Such Devoted Sisters
by willsy83
Summary: Rachel and Santana have been friends since they were five. When twins Quinn and Brittany Fabray move to Lima from New York and turn their lives upside down, they are forced to re-evaluate their friendship and their feeings. Initially Pezberry friendship, Faberry and Brittana relationship and Faberittana friendship endgame. On hiatus, see my profile for details.
1. Prologue

**Such Devoted Sisters**

**Prologue**

Rachel Berry and Santana Lopez are quite probably the most unlikely pair of friends anyone could ever meet. Everyone thought so at McKinley High, unfortunately none of these people cared enough to ask about their history because if they did, they'd understand in a heart beat. They met in school back when they were a couple of five-year-olds, some of the bigger girls were bullying little Rachel after school of the grounds where the teachers couldn't see, and Santana charged in without even thinking twice and gave one of them a black eye before she even knew what was happening. The rest of them disappeared after this, and Santana waited with Rachel until her Dad's came to collect her.

Rachel liked how confident and brave the other girl seemed and was happy that she didn't seem fazed about her having two dads, and Santana liked how cheerful Rachel was even though she got picked on a lot. After that it became a daily occurrence that they would sit together in class and wait for Rachel's parents together. It never struck Rachel as odd that she never saw Santana's parents, and whenever her dads offered her a ride, she always said her mom would be along in a little while. The smaller girl didn't notice the worried look that passed between her fathers, and probably wouldn't have understood it anyway.

* * *

After they'd been friends a couple of years, Santana came to school one day with a black eye. "What happened, Tana?" Rachel asked.

"Nothin' Shrimp, I just fell and hit my head," Santana said, although Rachel thought she looked a little upset through the reassuring smile her friend gave.

When Rachel's dad, Hiram, picked her up after school, he took one look at Santana and said, "Honey, how did you do that?"

She mumbled the same thing to him that she had to Rachel and stared at the floor, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

"Rachel, honey, will you wait here with Tana a minute?" he said to his daughter, "I just need to talk to your Principle."

They waited outside for about fifteen minutes till he finally emerged, looking angrier than Rachel had ever seen him.

"The Principle just called your mom Tana, she said you can stay at our house tonight if you want?" He said this gently, completely at odds with the stony expression on his face. Santana brightened at this and said she'd love to.

"Are you ok dad?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah sweetie I'm fine," Hiram said, forcing a smile on his face. "Now lets get home, I think you're Daddy's making pizza for dinner." This announcement was met with cheers.

* * *

After the girls had gone to bed, Hiram and Leroy, Rachel's other father stayed up in the living room having a conversation.

"It just isn't right," Hiram fumed, "I mean, how can they say that? Anyone with even a shred of common sense can see what's going on in Tana's home, but they won't do anything unless they see concrete evidence, which they can't get unless they investigate. It was hard enough getting the Principle to call her home to ask if she could stay over."

Leroy sighed. "I know. It'd be a totally different story if she didn't live in Lima Heights, they'd investigate in a heart beat, they're too scared to go around that neighbourhood."

"That's no excuse," Hiram fumed. Then his shoulders sagged. "I've suspected for years something wasn't right, I mean I've never even seen them collect Tana from school. I just ignored my suspicions and let it go." He started to tear up. "God, I could have said something before it went this far."

"Shh, don't do this to yourself, honey," Leroy soothed. "No one wants to assume a kid's parents are violent, you just thought you were being over-protective. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, based on this. If they won't do anything when she turns up to school with a black eye, they're not gonna investigate based on a hunch.

"I know," Hiram said, "I just wish there was something we could do."

* * *

It was a few years later before Santana's parents divorced. By this time she spent most of her time at the Berry house, neither of her parents particularly noticing her absence. One Friday she had to go straight home from school however, as Rachel was going to visit her aunt and cousins for the weekend. Her dad was home and already angry because her mom was late home from work. She tried to sneak straight up to her room when she heard him slamming around the kitchen, but he heard the stair creak.

"Hey, you little slut, what do you think you're doin' sneakin' around?" he snarled.

"I'm goin' to my room, what does it look like?" she snapped back, knowing nothing she said would make a difference when he was in this mood.

With a sudden movement he grabbed the girl by her hair and dragged her screaming into the kitchen. "What the fuck do you think you're doin' talking to me like that in my own home?" he shouted. "You spend all your time with that little Jewish freak and her fag dads and you come home and you think you can talk to me like that?" Without any more warning he hit her across the face, sending her sprawling onto the floor. "You're never goin' round there again, do you hear me? I don't want you near people like that any more, if it makes you disrespect me."

Santana looked up at him defiantly. "Leroy and Hiram are better fathers than you'll ever be, you son of a bitch! You should be getting tips from them not insulting them, no wonder Rico left the first chance he got." She'd completely lost control by this point, standing up and spitting on the ground in front of her father showing him how little she thought of him.

Her father bellowed at her and started punching and kicking her repeatedly, screaming "Don't ever mention that fucking loser of a son to me, and don't even think about comparing me to those fucking fags ever again!"

Just before she lost consciousness, she heard her mother screaming by the kitchen door.

* * *

When Santana woke up, it took her a minute to work out where she was and remember what happened. She tried to sit up and fell straight back down again, gasping at the pain coming from her chest, head and face. The girl almost jumped out of her skin when she saw someone out of the corner of her eye moving quickly to the door.

"It's ok Tana, you're gonna be alright," she recognised the soothing voice of Hiram Berry. "Rachel's at school, but me and your mom are here, and Leroy's working today, your mom just went to get him. He said he'd call the school when you're conscious so Rachel will be coming straight here when she's done." This confused Santana momentarily till she remembered Rachel telling her once that her daddy Leroy was a doctor.

A few minutes later Leroy entered with Santana's mother and a nurse. While the nurse checked her vitals, her mother paced nervously at the foot of the bed while Leroy came to talk to her.

"Hey, little Tana," he said gently, "good to see you're up. How do you feel?"

"Everything hurts," the girl groaned. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she started trembling. "My dad's not here, is he?" At this both the Berry men's eyes hardened and her mother noticeably flinched. It was than Santana noticed the bruises on her arms.

"Mom, what happened, what did he do to you?"

Her mother swallowed her tears and steadied herself. "I got in from work and found you on the kitchen floor with him standing over you. He tried to grab me when I ran but I managed to drag myself away from him. Luckily Mr Harris from next door heard me scream and let me in while I called 911."

"You got him arrested?" Santana sounded surprised, then her eyes hardened. "Took you long enough."

"I know Tana, and I'm so sorry," she said, finally letting the tears fall. "I was just so scared of what he'd do. But after this there was no way I could keep quiet any more."

Santana slumped further into her pillows. "I just wish you'd done it sooner. I know you were scared too, but we could've been rid of him years ago."

"I'm so sorry sweetie, and I swear I'll make up for it from now on, I've already spoken to Mr Berry here about filing for divorce and getting a restraining order, on top of the assault charges he's facing. I swear you never have to see him again if you don't want to."

"No, I want to go to the trial," she said defiantly. "I want to see his loser ass get sent to prison for all the shit he's done. Oh, sorry," she said, realising who she was talking to.

"I think in the circumstances we can let a little bad language slide," Hiram said smiling faintly, "as long as you don't make a habit of it." Her mother smiled a sad smile.

"Oh sweetie, I'm really sorry but I have to go, a man's coming to the apartment in a half hour to change the locks, I was gonna leave a key with Mr Harris but completely forgot when I came out today." She looked absolutely devastated that she had to leave.

"Its fine mom, Leroy and Hiram are still here, it's not like you're abandoning me."

Her mother left promising to come straight back after the locksmith was done, and Santana turned to Hiram. "So, how long was I out for and what's the damage."

"Direct aren't you?" Hiram chuckled. "You've been out for three days, it's just after lunchtime on Monday. As for the rest, I think it's best if my expert doctor husband explained."

Leroy came round to stand next to the girl again and started to explain. "Well honey, the worst of it is two broken ribs and a concussion. You've actually woken up briefly once or twice over the weekend but we couldn't get much sense out of you. To be honest with you I'm surprised you're lucid now, you're a tough one little Tana," he grinned. "The rest of the damage is cosmetic, some good cuts and bruises. The good news is that now that you're conscious it's all about waiting for those ribs to heal and you'll be more or less good as new, apart from a few aches and pains. Painkillers and bed rest will do you the world of good."

Santana looked nervous again. "Do you really think my dad will stay away now?"

"Well, he's in police custody at the moment, and they've set a hefty bail on him. Even then he'll be tagged, so the police will know where he is all the time. Don't worry Tana," he said, taking her hand, "if it comes to it you and you're mom can stay in our guest room. You'll be safe I promise."

* * *

A few hours later Hiram left to collect Rachel from school and Maria, Santana's mother, returned. After a half hour or so the door flew open and Leroy had to restrain Rachel from leaping at Santana. "Take it easy sweetie, what part of 'she's in a lot of pain' doesn't compute?" he joked.

The smaller girl just about restrained herself and instead sat in the chair by the bed that Maria had just vacated, taking Santana's hand. "Hey Tana."

"Hey Shrimp, how was school?"

Rachel stared at her for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. "You're lying in a hospital bed with broken ribs, you haven't seen me since last Friday, and the first thing that pops into you're head is 'how was school'?"

"Well, I was gonna lead with, 's'up home girl', but I didn't think you'd appreciate it."

Hiram smiled at them both and then stood with his husband and Maria. "We're going to get some food and coffee girls so we'll leave you alone. Your Daddy gets off in two hours honey, so we'll be back then to take you home." With that he ushered the other adults out of the room and closed the door.

Rachel smiled down at Santana, then looked serious. "So how're you feeling? I mean, other than the injuries."

A shadow came across the Latina girl's eyes momentarily, then she just looked pained. "I don't know. I mean, I know the police've got him and your dad's helping mom get a restraining order, but while I was out I kept dreaming about him coming after me and since I woke up this afternoon I've been remembering him standing over me and just hitting and hitting." Santana wondered why her cheeks were wet and realised she'd started crying. She looked across at Rachel and saw her tearing up as well.

"Tana, no matter what else happens, that man isn't coming anywhere near you again. My dads have already said you and you're mom can stay with us if it comes to it. And if he turns up at my house while you're there, I will personally kick him in the balls, or my name isn't Rachel Barbra Berry."

Santana looked momentarily shocked. As far as she could remember, this was the first time she'd heard Rachel swear. Choking back a laugh she said, "Now that's an image that's gonna cheer me up for years."

Rachel gave her a slight smile and started rubbing the palm of her hand with her thumb. "I would assume that that particular eventuality would never come to pass, I was just giving you an example to show you how much I truly despise you're pathetic excuse for a father."

"Now you sound like Rachel again," Santana laughed. Rachel tried to pout, but ended up laughing along with her.

After the laughter finally passed, Rachel smiled at Santana again. "I know this is a really horrible thing that happened to you Tana, but at least now you're dad's finally gone. Maybe things will be better at home from now on, I've seen you're mom a lot this weekend and she seems really nice."

"I thought you were visiting family this weekend?"

Rachel snorted out a small laugh. "You didn't honestly think we'd stay there after this, did you? We came straight back when we heard."

"Thanks Shrimp, you're the best. I just hope things are better from now on."

* * *

Unfortunately, things didn't stay better at the Lopez' apartment for long. Santana's father, Emilio, went on trial not long after Santana was fully recovered. The excellent case Hiram built against him, along with testimony from Santana herself, her mother and her brother Rico who'd flown in from California, assured that he'd have no choice but to plead guilty, which he duly did. Unfortunately, this meant he was given a much lower sentence than he could have or should have received. He was given a sentence of seven years, but could be out in as little as five for good behaviour. Santana wasn't too worried for herself because she planned to be out of Lima and hopefully at college by then. What that meant was her dad could be roaming the streets of Lima with no one around to make sure her mom was safe.

"Don't worry kiddo," Rico said to Santana before he boarded his plane back to Pasadena. "I'm earning decent money now. If he gets out early, I'll persuade mom to move to Cali. I can get her a condo near my apartment and get her settled till she gets a job."

Not long after the trial, Maria started having constant nightmares and flashbacks. Instead of seeing a doctor, she started having two glasses of wine every night before bed as this gave her a dreamless sleep. After a little while, this didn't work any more, so she started drinking a bottle. This, of course, gave her a hangover when she got up in the mornings, and the only thing that seemed to get rid of it was another glass of wine when she got up. It didn't take long were she was drinking pretty much steadily through the day.

At first, Santana tried to get her mother to see a doctor, but she just shrugged and carried on drinking. At first, she'd just sit quietly in the kitchen all day, glass of wine in hand, while the girl tried to persuade her to eat something or take a shower. She'd long since lost her job, her boss was patient given everything that had happened but one too many occasions stumbling in late smelling of booze undid that, so they had very little money and what little they did have was being spent on alcohol. After a while, she started shouting at Santana, telling her everything was her, fault, that if it wasn't for her they'd still be a real family.

By this point she was too worn out from everything that had happened to argue back, and instead started avoiding going home again, seeking refuge either next door with her elderly neighbour, Mr Harris, or at the Berry house. Her mother never noticed she was gone any more.

The things teenage girls talk about with their mothers were conversations Santana ended up having with the Leroy and Hiram, or just Rachel. When she sobbingly confessed that she was only attracted to girls, it was the Berrys she went to, Rachel telling her it didn't change a thing and that she'd help her through it, and Hiram and Leroy giving her the wisdom of experience. In return when they started McKinley High and Santana became a member of the Cheerios while Rachel not only joined but captained the schools Glee club, New Directions, Santana let it be known that anyone who messed with the smaller girl messed with her.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Ok, first up thanks to everyone who read the prologue, thought I'd throw it up to see what kind of response it got, it being my first fic was curious. Just fyi:**

**- I am very aware the prologue was angsty in places, it won't all be like this, the focus will be on friendships and romance. Just couldn't think of any other way to kick things off.**

**- this willbe Faberry and Brittana, there was a distinct lack of Fabray goodness in the prologue but they'll make their grand entrance in this chap.**

**- it's mostly going to be AU, set after season 1 (apart from the prologue obvs), but most character personalities will be canon (except Finn – but no Finn-bashing I'm afraid ^_^).**

**- This will definitely not be a song fic, but with the main players at one time or another being members of glee, songs will be mentioned.**

**- I personally live in sunny England and know next to nothing about the American school/legal/healthcare systems, so apologies in advance for any errors. On that note for my overseas readers, me being a goodly time difference to the US, chances are chapter updates will probably be at unusual times for you guys.**

**DISCLAIMER: Oh yeah, and I do not own characters, places or anything else Glee related, only the plot of this story is mine. **

**That's about it, feedback and comments are very much appreciated, that being said I just love to write about these guys so I'll definitely be updating whether or not I get any! Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

By their Junior year as a result of everything that had happened over the years and hiding her sexuality from everyone but the Berrys, Santana had developed a reputation as a bitch in school. She had a temper that sometimes she couldn't control and she even started snapping at Rachel from time to time, who took it in stride, confident the Latina would never get physical with her. Rachel persuaded her to join glee, which helped Santana get out some of her stress through singing. Combine that with being made Cheerios captain, and she became a lot calmer, although she could still throw out the anger when necessary. Plus one of the few guys she was close to, Finn Hudson, was also in glee club as well as being captain of the football team, and she was genuinely happy when he finally asked Rachel out, knowing he'd liked her forever.

Within a week of starting that year they'd settled into a routine. Rachel would drive them both to the Lopez' apartment, check her mom was ok and had at least had some food, check Mr Harris next door was ok and occasionally stop for a chat, then they'd head back to Rachel's and Finn would come over for dinner, catch up on their homework, watch a movie, then Finn would go home and Rachel and Santana would go to bed. In the morning Rachel would drive them both to school, and the cycle would repeat with the occasional Cheerio practice, glee rehearsal or football practice thrown in.

About three weeks into junior year in the middle Rachel's math class, Principle Figgins' secretary came to get her, telling her the Principle wanted to see her. Walking to the Principle's office, Rachel racked her brains trying to work out what she could possibly have done wrong. She had a perfect attendance record, her grade average was high, she always submitted her homework on time and never caused trouble. She was, by any definition the perfect student.

When they arrived at the waiting room outside the Principle's office, she was surprised to see Santana sat there, scowling at the wall.

"Take a seat Miss Berry, I'm going to see if Principle Figgins is ready for you both," said the secretary, heading into the glass fronted office. Rachel peeked in to see her start to talk to Figgins, who in turn appeared to have been in conversation with someone else in the room that Rachel couldn't see.

"So Shrimp, you have any clue what's going on?" Santana asked as the diva took the seat next to her.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," she said, still confused. "You haven't done anything I need to know about lately, have you?"

Santana rolled her eyes, then fixed them on Rachel. "It's good to know you have such faith in me. Besides, why would they drag your ass in here just because I'd done something?"

"Ok, I'm sorry, I just thought I'd better check." Rachel was starting to get nervous now, as Figgins had turned his attention from whoever was in the chairs to his secretary. She then rapidly looked away as he looked outside. A few seconds later his secretary came back out and ushered the both inside.

While she was taking a seat, Rachel glanced across at whoever was taking up the chair that Figgins had been talking to and was surprised to see two someones in the spare seats, two pretty blonde girls about the same age as her and Santana. The one with longer hair had blue eyes and something about her bearing made her come across as innocent. She was smiling to herself and staring into space, seemingly totally unconcerned with anything going on around her. The other girl couldn't have looked more different. She had big hazel eyes that could have made her look adorable, if she wasn't glaring calculatingly at Santana. Rachel turned to face her friend to find her glaring right back at the shorter blonde, a battle of wills seemingly taking place. _This is not good_, Rachel thought.

"Rachel Berry, Santana Lopez I'd like you to meet Quinn and Brittany Fabray." Principle Figgins introduced them. As soon as Figgins said 'Brittany', the blue eyed girl looked across at them and, seemingly noticing them for the first time, shot them both a beaming smile.

"Hi," she said, in a slightly giddy voice, "I'm Brittany."

"They already know, B," the other girl drawled in a slightly deep, husky voice that for some reason made Rachel shiver slightly. "The Principle just told them our names."

"Oh ok," Brittany said. Then she seemed to become even more cheerful, if that was possible. "Are you our new best friends?" She asked.

Rachel could do little more than stare at this point. Even though she knew the only reason she didn't receive slushy facials on a daily basis was because of Santana's threats, she still managed to maintain a positive outlook on life. However, this girl made everyone in the room look miserable by comparison. Everything about her screamed rainbows. Even though they'd just met, Rachel knew her bedroom would be decorated in pink, and contain at least one cuddly unicorn. Glancing across at the other girl, Quinn, it was hard to picture how they could be sisters. Apart from their hair colour they didn't look alike, and although they hazel eyed girl hadn't spoken much Rachel would have bet everything she owned that their personalities were polar opposite as well.

After a few seconds Principle Figgins attempted to regain control of the conversation, and turned to face Rachel and Santana. "The Fabray's have recently moved to Lima, and will be starting their junior year here at McKinley."

"Wait, they're _both_ in their junior year?"

"Yeah, me and Q were born on the same day. I think there's a word for that." Brittany trailed off, sounding confused.

"We're twins." Quinn said shortly, then turned her attention back to Figgins. Rachel couldn't have been more shocked if Sue Sylvester had run in with a smile on her face and started handing out ice cream.

"You don't look like any twins I've ever seen," Santana said with a smirk.

"That's identical twins, we're fraternal twins," Quinn replied narrowing her eyes at the Latina.

"Whatever, I'm bored already."

"Santana!" Rachel was shocked by her friend's rudeness. "There's absolutely no need to speak to people like that!" Rachel turned to face Brittany and Quinn while Santana rolled her eyes, catching a momentary softness in the shorter blondes eyes that was soon replaced by her usual hard stare. "I apologise for my friend, and would like to welcome you to McKinley High. I'm sure you'll like it here, there are plenty of extracurricular activities to take part in so I have no doubt you'll find something you're interested in."

"You use big words," Brittany said, staring into space again.

"Thanks, but my old cheerleading coach has already recommended me to Miss Sylvester, I have a tryout for the Cheerios after school."

"No way," Santana said, her head whipping across to face the shorter blonde. "Miss Sylvester never takes new recruits this late in the year, she recruits in the Summer."

"Well I guess she made an exception in my case," Quinn smirked at the Latina, who face had flushed red.

"Ladies," Principle Figgins chipped in. All four teenage girls whipped their heads to face him, a little surprised as they'd almost forgotten he was there, "if we could get back to the matter at hand. We have a policy here at McKinley that any new students joining partway through the year will be assigned a 'welcome buddy' who will act as a guide for your first few weeks at McKinley. If two siblings start together, they are given separate welcome buddies to aid them making new friends. Santana, as the head Cheerio, we thought Quinn would benefit from being guided by you, particularly with her own ambitions to join the squad."

"Oh I can hardly wait," snarked the Latina. Luckily Figgins didn't catch the sarcasm.

"Excellent. And Rachel, Brittany apparently found some of the classes at her previous school…challenging. As the student with the highest grade average, we thought she may benefit from your influence."

"Yay!" chirruped Brittany, leaping from her chair and picking up Rachel into a bear hug. "I was hoping we'd be friends, I like small people, they're move fun to hug!" Rachel couldn't decide whether to laugh or be offended, and opted for hugging the excitable girl back and grinning like a maniac.

Figgins chose to ignore the overly enthusiastic display of affection and soldiered on. "Ok girls, you have your new timetables. I've made sure you're in all the same classes as your buddies for the first few weeks, after which time we'll switch you to a more ability appropriate timetable." He eyed Brittany as he said this, making Quinn scowl. "It should be time for lunch in less than five minutes, so you might as well head straight to the cafeteria and start your lessons after lunch. Now if you'll excuse me ladies I'm a very busy man. Santana smirked as he looked down and mouthed, _yeah right_ at Rachel over his head. Rachel gave a small smile back, and struggled to work out why she felt so disappointed at not being paired with Quinn.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thanks for the reviews and follows so far, I hope you continue to enjoy ^_^**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Rachel and Santana took Brittany and Quinn to the cafeteria and arrived just as the bell rang. They sat together not saying much, except for Brittany who questioned the two brunettes incessantly about anything and everything that popped into her head, most of which made absolutely no sense to them. Quinn was particularly reticent, saying no more than two words. After lunch Santana took Quinn to their English class with Miss Hughes while Rachel marched off to Spanish with Mr Schue, Brittany trailing along in her wake.

"Is she always this hyper?" Santana asked the quiet girl.

"Not always, she's worse when she's nervous. She'll settle down when it starts to feel familiar. Is _she_ always that chatty?" Quinn asked in response, nodding towards Rachel.

"I'd love to lie and tell you no, but if anything that better she knows you, the more she talks. I would know."

"I take it you're friends?"

"Best friends since we were kids." _Why am I telling her all this? _Santana couldn't help but think, she didn't normally volunteer information this readily. "We'd better get to class or we're gonna be late."

They got to English just in time, and barely spoke through the lesson, or through any of the other lessons that day. Santana was having difficulty figuring the blonde out. She'd seemed pretty normal when they'd talked before English, then gave one word answers for the rest of the day whenever Santana asked her anything, and she'd occasionally give the Latina that hard glare like she'd done something horrible to her. By the end of Math, their last class of the day, Santana just wanted to get away from her.

"Santana, could you take me to the gym? I still have that Cheerios tryout."

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that," Santana said, silently cursing herself. "I have to be there as well as captain."

"At least there'll be one friendly face cheering me on," Quinn said, and Santana didn't miss the sarcastic tone. _I hope she falls flat on her ass,_ she thought.

After getting changed into their gear, Quinn in yoga pants and a fitted sports top, Santana in her Cheerios uniform, they headed to the basketball court where all new wannabe recruits tried out. Sue was already sat behind her desk next to Becky Jackson, with an empty seat on her other side for Santana to take. In her peripheral vision, the Latina caught someone sat at the back of the bleachers, and looked up to see Rachel and Brittany grinning down at them. Quinn had spotted them to and smiled faintly at her sister before turning around and standing in front of Sue and Becky. Santana hurried into the extra seat next to Sue.

"Name," she stated looking down at the desk. It sounded like an order, not a request.

"Quinn Fabray," Quinn said in a clear, confident voice.

"Well Fabray, I hope you realise what an honour this is. Your previous coach speaks very highly of you. This would mean precisely nothing to me if she hadn't taken a bullet for me once on the mean streets of Detroit during one of the most gruelling competitions I endured." Quinn started and looked at Sue like she was insane, obviously trying to remember if her previous coach had ever mentioned being shot. Santana, who was more used to Sue's rambling anecdotes, had already started tuning her out.

"I do coach, thank you for the opportunity."

"I'm not your coach yet," Sue drawled. She picked up an egg timer that was sat on the desk. "There's enough sand in this device to run for two minutes. When I flip it some music will start that is timed to stop when the egg timer runs out. I expect you to improvise a routine that runs for exactly the length of the music, you stop when it stops. Are you ready?"

Quinn looked a little startled, but recovered admirably and nodded.

"Then begin." She flipped the egg timer and the music started.

Santana wondered for an instant where the music was coming from, but then stopped and focused on Quinn. She was good, Santana gave her that. Her routine was choppy which was to be expected considering she was making it up on the spot, but every move was perfectly executed, and she was throwing in some pretty complex stuff. Santana narrowed her eyes. She was going to have to watch this one.

After a minute, the Latina risked a glance up at the other two girls. Brittany was smiling down at Quinn with pride and admiration for her twin. When Santana glanced across at Rachel though, her eyes narrowed. The tiny brunette's eyes were glued to Quinn, and her mouth was hanging open. If she didn't know better, Santana would say she was ogling. In fact even knowing better Santana would say she was ogling.

The Latina looked back at Quinn just in time for the end of the routine. For her final move, the blonde jumped into the air and span a 360, landing perfectly facing the table exactly as the music cut out.

Sue shuffled the papers on her desk and looked completely composed, but Santana knew better. Her coach was impressed, it was clear to anyone familiar with her tics and from the expression on Becky's face, she'd noticed too.

"Well Fabray, I wasn't totally horrified by that routine. It was sloppy in places, and the choreography looked like it had been thrown together by a drunk five year old, but otherwise it was fine." Santana looked at Sue, shocked. It wasn't like her to throw praise like that around.

"Practice is tomorrow at 3.30, Becky will have a uniform ready for you to collect outside the Cheerios locker room at 3.15, if you're there a minute late she will leave and you're off the squad." Sue took a breath. "Unfortunately I have been informed by the PTA that I can't force you to wear your uniform at all times," she said with a sidelong glance at Santana, "however most choose to as a sign to the rest of the school who runs this show. Your hair is to be tied in a pony tail at all times. That is all, you are dismissed. Oh and Fabray?" she stopped the blonde as she turned to leave.

"Yes coach?" Quinn asked, looking more shocked by the second.

"As a cheerleading squad, we don't need cheerleaders of our own. So next time, make sure Yentl and Rapunzel stay at home," she stated.

"Yes coach," Quinn said again, looking relieved to leave.


	4. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for the reviews and favourites, keep em coming people!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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**Chapter 3**

"So, what was with the ogling?" Santana said once they were in Rachel's room after school.

"Huh?" Rachel said. Ever since the cheerleading tryout, Rachel had been struggling to concentrate. Walking down the corridors to her car, checking on Ms Lopez and Mr Harris, driving between school, Santana's and her house, wherever she was, every time she let her mind wander it went back to Quinn dancing in the basketball court. Something about the way she moved was hypnotic, and Rachel was mesmerised the second she started. She was so raw and yet so graceful, like she would imagine a tiger stalking prey. Obviously Quinn wasn't prowling around the gym pouncing at things but in Rachel's mind the rather poetic analogy worked.

"Rachel!" Santana shouted for the fifth time.

"There's no need to shout Santana, I can hear you perfectly well from here."

"You're body might not be far away, but I know exactly where your head is," Santana leered.

"I have no idea why you're being so disgustingly innuendo-laden, but am I to guess you're insinuating I'm attracted to Quinn?" Rachel stated, glaring at the Latina.

"Hah, I knew it! You always start talking like a walking thesaurus when you're nervous." Santana started laughing.

The shorter brunette looked at Santana rather haughtily. "May I remind you there's only one lesbian in this room, and it isn't me? How do I know you're not projecting onto me because you're attracted to her yourself?"

"Oh please, she so isn't my type, I prefer brunettes," the Latina scoffed.

"I see, so it's me you harbour a secret crush on," Rachel smacked herself on the forehead, "I should've known."

"Shut in Shrimp, you know that ain't right." Santana shuddered. "Ugh, it'd be like banging a sibling."

"And now it's in my head forever." Rachel stated, joining Santana in a shudder.

"In all seriousness, you were totally checking her out," the Latina said, "I would know, I'm an expert in covertly checking out women."

Rachel was about to reply when her phone rang twice then went silent. "That's Finn, he's outside."

As Rachel headed down to let him in she heard Santana shout, "This conversation ain't over home girl."

Rachel opened the door to the tall, dark haired boy grinning down at her. "Hey gorgeous," he said, swooping her up into a hug.

Finn was easily the nicest guy Rachel had ever met. Captain of the football team, tall and handsome, he could easily have been another jock stereotype. Instead he proved himself above them time and again, standing up for his step-brother Kurt when he was being bullied and staring down anyone who insulted Rachel. He was also probably the only guy apart from Puck Santana got on with. She'd always been more comfortable around girls but Finn had a way of putting everyone at their ease.

"Santana and your dads here?" He asked.

"My dads are still at work, but Santana's up in my room," she replied. "You wanna go straight up? I'm going to get a drink while I'm down here."

"It's ok, I'll get you a water you go up, I wanna grab a soda anyway." He gave her a peck on the cheek and headed into the kitchen while Rachel went back upstairs.

When she got back to her room, Santana was playing with her iPod. "Please Tana by all means, mess with my stuff the second I leave the room." Rachel winked at the Latina to let her know she was joking.

"Cool, I'll just go search your underwear drawer."

"Careful, you're drifting into incestuous territory again," Rachel smirked. Santana looked at her disgusted and carried on playing with the iPod.

"Hey San," Finn said. She turned round as he entered and he tossed her a soda, which she easily caught. He then went and sat on the bed while Rachel went and sat next to him, leaning her weight against his side and linking their hands.

"Hey Jolly Green," she replied, opening her soda and taking a swig, "crushed any villages lately with your giant feet?"

Finn laughed easily and took a swig from his own drink while Rachel took a sip of the water he'd brought for her. "Not recently, although there were a few close calls."

Santana grinned at him and slapped his shoulder.

"Ow, I didn't come here to be abused you know, I could go anywhere for that."

"I bet you wouldn't mind if Shrimp abused you a little," she smirked, cocking her eyebrow.

"Tana, your brain is pure filth, do you know that?" Rachel yelled, while her and Finn both blushed beetroot red.

Santana just laughed, then her phone started to ring with an unrecognised number. "Hello?" she answered.

Rachel got curious because Santana was frowning in a strange way.

"Hey Quinn," Santana said, sounding surprised, "No it's fine, Coach likes us to have each others numbers…oh, I see…yeah you tracked her down…no problem, give me a sec." Santana looked across at Rachel with a neutral expression on her face. "It's Quinn, she wants to talk to you."

The small brunette felt her heart rate go up of its own accord, and her palms felt suddenly sweaty. She took Santana's phone. "Hey Quinn, what's up?"

"_Hey Rachel. Look. I'm sorry to call you at home, and in this roundabout way, but I need a favour."_

"Sure, what's up?"

"_Well, my mom got a call from the school. Apparently Brittany had to do some kind of basic tests today in English and Spanish and completely flunked both of them. With her already starting a month late they're kinda worried she might flunk out this year if she doesn't get some extra help. I know you're her 'buddy' and everything so I thought I'd ask you for help. I did it for her at our last school and mom helps when she can but she works a lot and I'm a little behind as well with starting a new school and all so I just thought…"_

"Woah, slow down Quinn, you don't need to explain so much, it's fine I'll help out Brittany. I take it you want me to tutor her?"

"_Only if you can, I understand if you don't have time."_

"Of course I will. Well, I'll tutor her in English anyway, I'm no genius at Spanish myself though. I bet Tana would help though."

Santana, who had already sensed where this was going as soon as Rachel mentioned Spanish, scowled at Rachel and shook her head.

"You're in luck Quinn, she said yes. If you want I can bring her to my place after school tomorrow and get started with English, and you can bring Santana round after Cheerios practice and she can take over for Spanish."

"_Thanks Rach, you're really helping me out. Tell Santana thanks as well. Is it cool if I stay though when I drop Santana off? Brittany sometimes freaks if she's around people she doesn't know that well for too long."_

"Of course you can stay, I wasn't expecting you to just disappear after you dropped Tana off!"

"_Ok well, I'll see you at school tomorrow, and thanks again."_

"I'll see you tomorrow, and you're welcome again."

Rachel handed Santana's phone back to her and tried to contain her excitement. In fact she didn't even understand why she was so excited, it's not like she didn't have friends round, Finn was over most nights and Santana practically lived there.

"Berry," Santana started, and the small brunette knew she was in trouble. Santana only called her Berry when she was royally pissed. "On my planet when someone shakes their head at you, it means 'no'."

"I don't get it," Finn said, "it sounds to me like the new girl's coming here to be tutored, what's so terrible about that?"

"Short-stack here," the Latina thrust her head in Rachel's direction, "has just gone against my wishes and volunteered me to help tutor a girl who's so air-headed I'm surprised she doesn't float away."

"Come on Tana, don't be so mean. I spent half the day with her today and she's not that bad. A little…unique I'll grant you but she's not dumb, she just looks at things a little differently. She was awesome in Chemistry and you know how tricky that is."

"I don't care I have better things to do with my time than tutor the new kid."

"Oh please," Rachel snorted, "You'd be here doing your Spanish homework anyway, you might as well tutor her while you're doing it."

"Ugh, fine but if she or that ice queen sister of hers piss me off even once, I'm O-U-T." Santana tossed her empty soda can in the trash and stalked to the bathroom.

"Ice queen sister?" Finn enquired with a small smile.

"She isn't, trust me. She reminds me of Santana actually, maybe that's why she doesn't like her. She's stubborn and a little closed off. And although I haven't seen it in action, I would imagine she has a pretty bad temper."

"Definitely sounds like someone I know," Finn said, still smiling. Rachel suppressed a laugh when the Latina re-entered.

"D'you want me to leave so you can gossip about me some more?" Santana said acidly.

"Actually, that would be a help," Finn volunteered with a smirk.

"Prick," Santana laughed at him, throwing herself into a chair.

Not long after this Rachel's dads, Hiram and Leroy came home. Rachel told them about Brittany and Quinn coming over and tutoring situation and they both just smiled and said it was fine, even offering to cook for the five teenagers. After dinner, Finn pecked Rachel, said goodbye to everyone and left. Santana went up to get changed into her pyjamas while Rachel helped her dads wash up. They took turns between the three of them. When Rachel finally went up, the Latina already had a movie ready to go, and Rachel was surprised by the choice.

"'Mamma Mia'? Really? I thought you hated it?"

"I don't mind it," Santana shrugged, "and for some reason, I'm in the mood for it today."

"Ok, well I just need to wash up and change, I'll be out in five."

When Rachel came back, they both settled down to watch the movie. About halfway through Santana looked across at Rachel. "You know I was only teasing you about that Quinn stuff before right? I mean, I think Finn's pretty cool for a guy, I don't want you to think I'm trying to persuade you onto my team or anything."

"Tana, I wouldn't ever think that," Rachel reassured her, "and if I'm honest, maybe I was staring a little when she danced."

"With your mouth hanging open," Santana smirked.

"With my mouth hanging open," Rachel conceded, feeling a little strange. "I mean, she's an attractive girl, and the way she moves is…unique. But that's normal, right? I mean all straight women can acknowledge when another woman is attractive, right?" Rachel felt like she was almost pleading with Santana to reassure her.

"You do realise you're asking a lesbian about what straight women find attractive, don't you?" Santana smiled at her. "I know what you mean though, I mean I'm totally gay but I can still tell whether a guy's good looking or not. Is that what you meant?"

"Yeah, that's it," Rachel said, hating to lie to Santana because that wasn't what she meant. She couldn't just tell that Quinn was attractive, she was addicted to the way she moved, her voice was the most alluring thing she'd ever heard, and her eyes, when they weren't glaring at someone (which was admittedly rare) were like big hazel pools she could lose herself in. _That's so beyond just acknowledging her attractiveness_, Rachel thought.

After the movie, Santana went to the guest room, or what was essentially her bedroom given that most of her stuff was there, and Rachel lay down, taking forever to get to sleep and when she finally did, her thoughts were of hazel eyes framed by blonde hair.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Cheerios practice the next morning was a disaster for Santana. It quickly became obvious that Quinn was fitter than her, finishing their warm-up laps barely even breathing hard while Santana and the rest were more than a little winded. Add that to the fact that Sylvester spent most of the practice praising the blond and Quinn persuading her to give Brittany a trial the next day, and the Latina got the distinct impression she was being squeezed out. Thinking about Brittany made Santana roll her eyes at thought of trying to teach the easily distracted taller blonde Spanish that evening.

The morning's lessons didn't go any better, sitting with Quinn all day Santana got the impression the blonde was smirking at her, and considering she'd told Rachel on the phone the previous evening that she was a little behind with her lessons she seemed to know more than the Latina in everything except Spanish.

Walking into the choir room for glee rehearsal, Santana's jaw dropped when she saw Brittany sat in her usual spot next to Rachel. Putting on her fiercest glare, she stalked over to the blonde stopping in front of her. "You do realise you're sitting in my place, right?"

Brittany frowned up at her. "I didn't realise this was yours, did you bring it from home? It kinda looks like all the other chairs."

If Santana hadn't established Brittany's unusual view of the world by this point, she would have thought the blonde was insulting her. "No, I didn't mean…look this chair belongs to the school as far as I know, that's just where I usually sit."

Brittany gave Santana her usual insanely cheerful smile. "Oh, ok, I'll sit on the other side then," she said as she switched to Rachel's other side.

As the rest of the club filtered in, Rachel leaned across to the Latina and whispered, "That was a little rude, what's up with you?"

"Nothing," Santana shrugged, not wanting to give Rachel a blow by blow account of her morning. "She just bugs me, the way she follows you and Quinn around like a lost puppy. I mean, doesn't she have a mind of her own?"

"She's new here," Rachel frowned, "of course she's going to follow me around, she'd get lost otherwise." The small brunette gave Santana a faint smile, "And I get the distinct impression Quinn's only too happy for anyone to follow her around, she's definitely the 'take-charge' type."

"You got that right," Santana mumbled, thinking of Cheerios practice and Quinn's aptitude in lessons. "Why's she here anyway, I would've thought she'd have caught up with Quinn for free period."

"I told her I was going to glee rehearsal, when I told her what it was she got all excited and wanted to come see what it was about," Rachel shrugged. "Apparently she loves to dance."

Santana grimaced, thinking if she was any good she was a shoe-in for Cheerios, then felt her phone buzz with a new text.

_- Hey Santana, have you seen B? – Quinn_

_- Yeah, shes in choir room with me and Rach, she told her about glee and she wanted to come along. – Santana_

After she fired off her reply, Mr Schue entered and greeted the group, welcoming Brittany in the process. "So Brittany," he said, "would you like to sing something to introduce yourself to the group?"

"Actually I'm not that great at singing," Brittany said, blushing slightly, "I came because Rachel said I could dance, and I really like dancing."

"No problem," Finn grinned, "you can dance for me whenever I sing. What was it you said about my dancing Kurt?"

"Which time?" Kurt quipped. "I think my most recent comparison was Frankenstein's monster on ice," earning a chuckle from everyone including Finn and Will.

"Well, we could certainly use another good dancer to help out Mike," Will stated, grinning at Mike who smiled at Brittany and nodded encouragingly. "How about I put on some music and you show me what you can do?"

"Ok," Brittany said, bouncing to the front and looking the most confident Santana had ever seen her.

"Well, the guys have been practicing a group version of Beyonce this week, so how about you guys sing it out, and Mike and Brittany can do a little dance improv?" Will said, earning a cheer from the group.

The band struck up the tune of Crazy In Love, and the club joined in with the group arrangement they'd been rehearsing, Mercedes leading the vocals, leaving Mike and Brittany to dance at the front. Before to long, Santana had stopped singing and her jaw had hit the floor. Brittany was an amazing dancer. While she'd admitted the day before that Quinn was an excellent mover, what she did was pure cheerleader routine moves. Brittany didn't move like a cheerleader, she moved like a dancer, all grace and elegance, and the smoothness with which she transitioned from one move to the next made it look like she'd been rehearsing this routine for weeks. Even Mike, who was the best dancer the Latina had seen in the flesh up to this point, was struggling to keep up, and he looked thrilled to finally have someone who could challenge him on the dance floor.

As the song ended, the entire club, including Will, cheered and hollered, and Puck gave the somewhat startled tall blonde and Mike a high five each.

"Well…welcome to glee club!" Will enthused, making Brittany squeal and clap her hands in joy, before she leapt over to hug the teacher, nearly tackling him to the ground while the gang laughed.

"You're mouth's hanging open," Rachel whispered in Santana's ear, making to Latina jump and whip round to glare at the smirking diva.

"Is not," the Latina pouted.

"Oh, it so is," Rachel was openly grinning now. "I have to admit, if her and Mike start choreographing our routines, we're going to look incredible at Sectionals," Rachel mused, drifting into glee club captain role again.

Glee rehearsal went really quickly after that, and Brittany was even confident enough to join in with the chorus on a few of the numbers by the end. As they left the room together at the end, Santana heard a familiar stern voice shout, "Brittany!" from behind them.

The three girls turned around to see Quinn bearing down on them with an angry look on her face.

"Hey Q," Brittany said, her usually constant smile faltering, "what's wrong?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Quinn snarled at her. "You can't join glee club."

Brittany's face fell. "Why not?" she pouted at her twin, "it's fun, and I can dance as much as I want."

Quinn's face softened slightly when she saw the disappointed look on her sister's face. "We're at a new school, B," Quinn said, "and if people see you doing something as lame as glee club, they're going to start teasing you again."

"If anyone teases your sister just for being in glee, then they aren't people either of you should worry about impressing," Rachel chimed in sententiously, not helping the situation in the slightest as Quinn's eyes narrowed at her, and Santana internally face-palmed.

"I take it this was your idea, dwarf?" Quinn sneered. "B doesn't need advice from one of the school's biggest losers."

Rachel's face fell slightly, although she tried to hide it. For some reason, she found herself caring what Quinn thought of her even though she only met her a day ago, and to hear her come out with the same insults the other cheerleaders threw in her direction whenever Santana wasn't around was more than a little depressing. It was a good job Rachel knew her friend so well, because she had the foresight to throw herself between Santana and Quinn just in time.

"Watch what you call my girl, you stuck up bitch," Santana snarled at the blonde, "you may have been top shit back at your old school, but I rule the roost here, and I will personally end anyone who gives Shrimp any grief."

"Let it go, Tana, I can handle this myself," Rachel stated as she pushed Santana back. Quinn backed off slightly from the intimidating Latina, but maintained her sneer.

"Whatever, you two can carry on singing and dancing around with the school bottom feeders all you want, but you aren't dragging B down with you. Besides, I already got her a try-out with the Cheerios, so she doesn't need this place to dance."

Brittany, not lifting her eyes from the floor, said in a quiet voice, "I didn't like the cheerleaders back home, they were mean to me. I wanna be in glee club."

"Oh, come on B," Quinn said, pleading with her sister, "it took me forever to persuade Coach Sylvester to let you try out, and if you join the Cheerios no one will be mean to you ever again."

Brittany lifted her eyes to her sister. "Do you promise?"

"Of course," Quinn smiled, "no one messes with the Cheerios here, we'd be top of the heap."

Brittany brightened a little. "Ok Q. But I wanna keep going to glee club too."

"No!" Quinn snapped, glaring again. "No glee club, or I can't protect you. Geez B, why do have to make everything so hard?"

"I'm sorry Q, don't be mad," Brittany said, tearing up a little.

"Where do you get off telling her what she can and can't do?" Santana weighed in, glaring at the shorter blonde. "She has a mind of her own you know. I do Cheerios and glee, and no one ever gives me any shit."

"Yeah, well, Brittany isn't you is she?" Quinn snapped. "I've spent too long watching people take advantage of her to let her sabotage herself and get spit out by the assholes at this school."

"How about a compromise?" Rachel tentatively suggested, as the other three whipped their attention to her. "Brittany continues with glee and joins the Cheerios, which I have no doubt will happen after watching her dance today." Brittany smiled at the small brunette a little sheepishly. "We give it a couple of weeks, and if anyone tries to insult or undermine her Santana and Quinn let it be known she's under their protection. If at the end of that time Brittany has received an excessive amount of negative attention, she leaves glee club. If, however, there are no negative ramifications, she continues to do both."

"You talk a lot," the taller blonde said smiling at Rachel while Santana tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile at her friend's long-winded speech.

"Ok, I switched off for a lot of that, but I guess the gist is you want B to give both a trial run?" Quinn said giving Rachel a slightly confused stare.

"That's approximately what I said, yes."

Quinn sighed and slumped slightly, looking at Brittany who was practically begging her with her eyes. "Fine. But the first hint of any trouble, and you quit, ok B?"

"Yay! Thanks sis!" Brittany bounced over to her sister and gave her a huge bear hug.

"So," Rachel chimed in, addressing Quinn as Brittany released her, "are you guys still coming over after school for tutoring?" she asked. If Santana didn't know her as well as she did, she would have missed to slight pleading tone to her voice.

"Sure," Quinn said, still glaring slightly at the shorter girl. "I'll bring me and Santana over after Cheerios practice."

"Excellent," Rachel practically beamed, "see you then!"

Rachel noticed Santana's shoulders slump slightly as the twins trotted off together, Brittany promising to meet Rachel by her locker at the end of the day. "I'm sorry I roped you into this, Tana. I know you and Quinn don't get on too well but Brittany's really sweet, you should give her a chance."

"Yeah, but Ice Queen's gonna be there too, plus I've got another practice to get through with her today." Santana sighed and started moving towards the cafeteria to grab some food before afternoon classes. "What I don't get is why you're determined to be her best bud after the way she spoke to you. The girl's a complete bitch."

Rachel snorted at that as Santana turned around to glare at her. "I'm sorry Tana but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people you're nice to, so you calling her a bitch is a little rich. She was just trying to protect someone she cares about, surely you can relate to that, I mean you haven't exactly been that nice to Brittany have you?"

Santana turned around properly to face Rachel and stopped walking. "No, admittedly. But you have been, and it was you she insulted. I may be rude to people sometimes when they give you, or anyone I love for that matter, grief. But I'd never be that deliberately cruel to someone who spent the last two days looking out for you, and you know it."

Rachel had the decency to look a little shame-faced. "I know Tana, and I'm sorry I suggested you were a bitch, anyone who knows you can see that you're not. It's just that Quinn seems excessively protective of Brittany. She seems to dislike anyone unfamiliar being near her, and there must be some reason for that. I truly don't believe she was deliberately cruel with what she said, she was trying to defend her sister, albeit in a highly inappropriate manner."

"You know Brittany's right, you do talk too much," Santana teased, bumping Rachel's shoulder with her own. "Ok, I guess if you can let it go I can play nice. But she says one more thing out of line, and I'll be showing her why no one at this school messes with you."

As they walked to the cafeteria, Rachel knew she was supposed to feel comforted and protected by what Santana said, but it just depressed her more. She always knew the only reason the bullies left her alone was because of the Latina. Finn played his part too, but he was a complete gentle giant and everyone knew it, he might shout at some people but he'd never get physical. Santana on the other hand not only would, but had in the past and was notoriously tough for her size. Rachel didn't want her life to be this way, she appreciated that she got considerably less abuse than the other geeks at school but just for once she wanted people not just to leave her alone out of fear of Santana, but to actively be nice to her, or even try to defend her. As wonderful as Santana and Finn were, she was keenly aware that they were her only close friends. Even the glee club, who were at least polite to her, found her personality grating at times and she was acutely aware that the way she was kept people at a distance but at the end of the day she was who she was, and she couldn't change even if she wanted to.

The last two days with Brittany and, to a much lesser degree, Quinn had been refreshing for the shorter girl. Brittany was beautiful, tall and unfailingly cheerful and shouldn't even have looked at Rachel any differently to the cheerleaders and jocks of the school, but she'd been nothing but sweet, talking to her in between lessons about anything that popped into her head and listening intently to Rachel's sometimes long-winded replies. For all that she'd commented on the brunette talking a lot she'd never said it in a cruel way, or insinuated in any way that she was dull like most people did. She just listened with a genuine, cheerful smile on her face, and the responses Rachel got showed that she was listening.

Quinn was a bit more of an enigma. Scratch that, a _lot_ more. She had brief moments where she seemed like any other insecure teenage girl but the minute a conversation turned towards anything even remotely personal the walls came up and she became monosyllabic, if she even spoke at all. She was undoubtedly intelligent from what Santana had told her, but Rachel couldn't bring herself to believe that she was the bitch she was being painted as.

Rachel sighed as she sat down with Santana to eat, only half listening as her friend talked about the rest of the day. The Fabray twins were either going to make her school life infinitely better or catastrophically worse and for the life of her, she couldn't work out which.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for all the comments and follows, it means the world, I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Driving over to Rachel's, Quinn thought about the practice session they'd just had. Coach Sylvester was nothing but complimentary, if a little deranged, but the blonde wondered how much longer she could keep this up. Truth to be told, she hated being a cheerleader, the bitchiness and backbiting wore her out and the constant effort it took to keep herself in peak physical condition was exhausting. However, the alternative was to drop down the social tiers and find herself at the bottom, which was no kind of option in Quinn's mind.

Quinn sighed, and cautiously glanced across at Santana, who was studiously avoiding eye contact by staring out of the passenger side window. The only words she had spoken since she got in the car were to direct the blonde to the Berry homestead. Quinn frowned to herself and wondered what it was about herself that seemed to rub the Latina up the wrong way. Sure, she'd made some rude comments to her best friend after glee practice, but Santana seemed to have disliked her since they first laid eyes on each other.

As they pulled up outside Rachel's house, Quinn ruefully admitted to herself that she could've handled the Latina better. Rubbing Santana's nose in the fact that she was fitter and smarter was probably not the way to go in retrospect, especially with someone that touchy, and she didn't need telling that what she said to Rachel was completely uncalled for especially after she'd been so helpful.

The blonde followed Santana up to the front door after they'd grabbed their bags and locked up the car, surprised when she walked in without knocking.

"Hey Hiram," she said, greeting the bespectacled man sat on the sofa in the lounge, "how was work?"

"Fine thank you Santana," he smiled at her in greeting, before he caught Quinn standing awkwardly in the doorway. "And who might you be?" he asked curiously.

"I'm Quinn Fabray sir, Brittany's sister."

"Woah," he laughed, "the only people who call me sir are…well, no one. It's just Hiram, ok kid?" He turned to Santana then. "Why don't you take Quinn through to the kitchen and get her something to drink. There's plenty of vegan lasagne left over as well if you want to heat it up for the pair of you? Rachel and Brittany have already eaten and me and Leroy are going out for dinner tonight."

"Sure thing Hiram," Santana said, "thanks. Quinn, the kitchen's through here," she said, gesturing to a door at the back of the room.

As they entered the kitchen Quinn turned to Santana. "I take it you're here a lot?"

"I pretty much live here," she shrugged. "Things aren't exactly amazing at home, so the Berrys took me in. I normally go home to check on things after school, but my brother's in town for a few days so he's making sure it's all good."

Quinn could tell there was more to the story but decided not to pry, figuring Santana probably wouldn't tell her anyway. The Latina dug the lasagne out of the fridge and started heating it in the microwave, then went back and pulled out two sodas, tossing one to the blonde. As they finished up their food and drinks, Brittany and Rachel entered the kitchen, the blonde looking as cheerful as ever and Rachel looking worn out. The shorter blonde winced slightly and felt a little guilty. She knew first hand how difficult Brittany could be to teach, and resolved to help the tiny diva out with the tutoring as much as she could.

"Hey girls," Rachel said, brightening slightly when she saw Santana and Quinn, giving them her huge smile, "did you have fun at practice?"

"Yeah, it was pretty good," Santana stated, shooting a sidelong glance at Quinn, earning her a frown. The blonde refused to feel guilty for pushing herself harder than the Latina and getting praised in the process from Coach Sylvester.

"Will I really be able to dance a lot when I join?" Brittany asked them both, and Quinn really did feel guilty at that point. Sylvester would more than likely push and bully Brittany much more than she was used to. She quickly shook the feeling off, however. A little excessive pushing from her coach was better than getting bullied by the entire school.

"Sure Britt," Santana replied, earning her a startled look from Quinn and Rachel for the use of the nickname. She didn't seem to notice.

"Cool," Brittany smiled, "I can't wait to dance some more."

The four girls talked and relaxed in the kitchen for a little while, before Rachel gently pointed out that Santana and Brittany should probably get started. "Go back up to my room Brittany," Rachel said, "I'll send Santana up in a second, I just need to talk to her in private."

Brittany bounced upstairs, and Rachel took Santana's arm and led her out of the back door into the yard. Quinn sipped the last of her soda, and looked at the pictures on the fridge, most of them of Rachel at various competitions holding trophies and grinning at the camera toothily. There were a lot of family pictures, however, and the blonde couldn't help but notice that Santana was in the vast majority of them. It was almost as if Santana was Rachel's biological sister, and wondered what had happened to make two girls who were so completely different be such close friends since they were little girls.

One particular picture drew Quinn's eye then. She took it down from the fridge and looked at it more closely. It was another family picture, taken when the girls look around eleven or twelve at some theme park or other, and once again Santana was present. The blonde frowned as she focused in on the Latina in the picture. She was smiling just as wide as the Berry's, but Quinn could see the hint of a bruise around one of her eyes.

"That was a fun day," Rachel said from directly behind her, making the blonde jump a foot in the air resulting in the brunette chuckling. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok," Quinn said smiling, "I think I just had a mini heart attack that's all."

"Don't you think that's a little over-dramatic?" Rachel said, trying not to laugh.

"I find that highly offensive, coming from you," Quinn smirked, raising an eyebrow.

As the two girls chuckled at each other, a man Quinn presumed to be Rachel's other father popped his head through the kitchen door.

"Sorry to interrupt girls, but me and your Dad are heading out now, sweetie," he said. He looked at the blonde then and smiled. "You must be Quinn, I'm Leroy, one of Rachel's fathers."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Quinn said, shaking the big man's hand.

"You and Santana could learn some manners from this one," Leroy said, looking pointedly at his daughter, who just rolled her eyes. Turning back to Quinn, he said, "Please call me Leroy honey, we're not that formal in this house."

"Where are you heading tonight, Daddy?" Rachel interrupted.

"There's a new Thai restaurant opened just outside of town, we thought we'd give it a try," he replied, "as much as we like Breadstix it gets a little boring after a while."

"Don't let Tana hear you say that," Rachel said, and they both started laughing.

"What's Breadstix?" Quinn asked.

"A popular restaurant here in town," Rachel replied, "everyone loves in cause it's cheap and they do pretty much everything. Plus, the breadsticks are free, and you can take as many as you want, Tana's more than a little addicted to them and abuses the policy every chance she gets."

"Well, me and your dad had better go honey," Leroy said, "where's Tana? I want to say goodbye before we go." Quinn realised she hadn't even noticed that Santana wasn't there until that point.

"She's up in my room with Brittany."

"Ok, well see you later honey, make sure your friends get home safely," he said, leaving the room and the girls heard him shout goodbye to Santana, who shouted back.

* * *

An hour later, Quinn and Rachel were nestled into the sofa with some snacks between them watching Singin' In The Rain, one of the few movies they could agree on. Quinn had been trying to pluck up the courage to speak all night and finally turned to face the smaller girl. "Hey Rach?" she said.

"Yeah?" the brunette replied, turning away from the screen to face Quinn.

"I owe you an apology," the blonde girl admitted, looking at the floor.

Rachel frowned. "What for?"

Quinn's head shot up, and she searched Rachel's eyes too see if she was joking, finding nothing but sincerity there. "Do you really not know?"

Rachel shook her head, looking genuinely interested, not breaking eye contact with Quinn, who grew uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

"For how I behaved outside glee the other day," Quinn said as she averted her eyes again. After a minutes silence she chanced a look at the brunette again. She still looked curious and a little puzzled. "You remember surely," Quinn stated incredulous. "I was really harsh to you, and called you dwarf."

Rachel's eyes widened, and she smiled. "Is that why you've been so twitchy for the last hour?" she said.

"Well, yeah," Quinn said, nervous again. "I'm not good at apologising, and I don't normally make a habit of insulting people who are so nice to B." She looked back at the tv screen, not really seeing it. "I'm really sorry about it all, anyway."

Rachel was frowning again when she looked back across. "Can I ask you something Quinn?" she asked, and the blonde just nodded. "I know you're very protective of your sister, and after spending time with her over the last few days I can understand why. She is awfully…naïve. I don't honestly think I've ever met any one as trusting, and that's coming from me," she said smiling at the other girl, who smiled back in response. "But I don't understand why you're so fixated on making her popular. I know it's probably not my concern, but she didn't seem overly enthusiastic about joining the Cheerios, and from what I've seen of Coach Sylvester, I can't imagine she'll cope well in that environment."

Quinn stared off into space. Rachel was easily the most perceptive person she'd ever met, and the blonde wouldn't be surprised if she already knew the answer to the question, and was asking to test her on how honest she'd be.

"Things were pretty bad for B at our last school," she finally responded quietly, shifting to finally look Rachel in the eye again, willing her to understand. "I know I've mentioned some teasing, well it went far beyond that. She was actually pretty popular at first, she is pretty lovable after all," Quinn said, making Rachel smile and nod. "She had this one girl, Chrissie, who she was really close to, she spent a lot of time at our place. I didn't really like her, I didn't get why at the time just something about her seemed a little off. She'd tease B sometimes and she'd just laugh it off, but it seemed to me there was some malice behind it.

"Anyway, eventually Chrissie found out something about B, something she didn't like. I can't tell you what," Quinn said, seeing Rachel take a breath to interrupt, "that part isn't my story to tell. Anyway, Chrissie went and made sure this little piece of information became known to everyone in school. B was struggling a little anyway at the time. Mom had kicked our Dad out six months before which she took pretty hard, and she was struggling in some of her classes. Once Chrissie had aired her dirty laundry all over school, that was it for the popularity she had. The kids at school turned nasty, and I mean _really_ nasty.

"I found her once after cheerleading practice, she'd sent me a text telling me she was in the restroom near the gym, she was curled up on the floor sobbing, with a black eye and a bust lip, and she could barely stand. I drove her to hospital and it turned out she had some cracked ribs as well as the surface stuff." Quinn said all this in a flat tone, shutting down her emotions completely. She could hear Rachel snuffling next to her, obviously horrified that anyone could do something like that to someone as sweet as Brittany. The blonde knew if she looked in those big brown eyes, the walls would come down and she'd cry like she did the day she found Brittany, so she stared at the floor.

After a few minutes, Rachel spoke in a slightly broken voice. "Did you ever report any of this?"

Quinn snorted. "Oh yeah. Mom charged into the Principle's office the next morning and screamed at her, threatening her with any number of things." Quinn actually managed a smile. "I was sat outside the office and heard her using language I didn't even think she knew, Mom's usually really polite. But all the Principle did was tell her that because no witnesses had come forward, there was nothing she could do."

"That's a Goddamn disgrace," Rachel fumed, surprising Quinn with her own choice of language. "I don't know what secret this bitch Chrissie told everyone, but no one deserves to be beaten half to death," Rachel spat vehemently, "and the absolute least she should have got in the circumstances was the protection of the responsible adults charged with her care."

"Pretty much what my Mom said, but she used much more creative language," Quinn smiled up at Rachel then, finding her eyes again. "It wasn't long after that she announced she wanted to move to Ohio, supposedly to be closer to her family after the divorce, but really it was to get B out of that school. She found McKinley halfway through the summer and figured things would be better for her somewhere with less people around.

"I, however, am not that naïve," Quinn sighed shaking her head. "Eventually everyone will discover her secret, and the cycle will repeat. One thing I've noticed at McKinley, though, is that the Cheerios are almost revered. Cheerleaders at my last school were popular, but here it's on a whole other level. No one messes with them, hardly surprising with Santana as captain and Sue as Coach," she smiled, "but it gave me an idea. If I can get B on the squad and make her untouchable, it might make it a lot easier for her when the other shoe drops. Plus, with me on the squad with her, I can keep an eye on her more and protect her better than I did before."

"Do you blame yourself for what happened to her?" Rachel asked.

"Sometimes," Quinn answered honestly. "I was head cheerleader at my last school, and was a bit caught up with my own popularity. Don't get me wrong we were still close, but I didn't hang with her as much as I do now. If I was there for her more, they may have left her alone, or at least they wouldn't have been able to get her on her own."

"Do you know who I blame, Quinn?" Rachel said fiercely, as the blonde shook her head, "the animals who beat her up, the 'friend' who betrayed her, and the Principle who let all this happen without even trying to get justice." Rachel leaned across then and took Quinn's hand, linking their fingers. "You can be with her every second of the day. I meant what I said before, she needs protecting sometimes, but she's the same age as you, and for her to go through what she has and still be the cheerful, sweet person she is shows an incredible amount of strength. If this secret of hers gets out, I swear I'll help you protect her, and I have no doubt Tana will as well. I don't really want to go into detail, but she had a rough time as a kid as well and she has no tolerance for anyone who uses that kind of violence."

"Really?" Quinn said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

Rachel smiled. "She's mostly all bark, honestly. I can only count twice that she gotten physical, and both times she's was defending me. Trust me, she likes Brittany and she'll defend her when it comes to it, even if she can be a little rude sometimes."

Quinn smiled at Rachel then and squeezed her hand. "You know something Rach? I think me and B lucked out. Out of all the people we could've got stuck with as 'welcome buddies', we got you guys. I mean I've known you a couple of days, and you've shown more loyalty and care than any of my old cheerleading buddies, and I'd known them for years. Thank you for everything."

"There's absolutely nothing to thank me for," Rachel said, smiling. "Anyone with any decency would do the same."

Unfortunately, the perfect moment was ruined by the sound of Santana shouting from upstairs.


	7. Chapter 6

**Ok wow, am getting some great reviews, so thanks to all who have taken the time feel the need to post some personal replies:**

**LitaDelacour – I couldn't possibly give away plot points, but suffice it to say, good guess ^_^. And Faberritana will always be a force to be reckoned with in my head!**

**beaner008 – thank you for such a lovely review, it's really gratifying to read, especially when this is my first time writing anything!**

**This chapter's a little on the short side but I tend not to set an aim for length, I just go with the flow and stop where it feels natural. Also, this all happens at the same time as the events in Chapter 5.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Santana was more than a little curious as to why Rachel had insisted on dragging her outside, especially after just not so subtly telling the Latina to get on with tutoring. "What's goin' on, Shrimp?" she asked curiously.

"Ok, I'm going to say some things to you now Santana that I really need you to hear, so keep quiet till I'm done."

Santana knew that Rachel only ever used her full name when she was really serious about something so decided to play along. "Spit it out Rach, you're the one who said we needed to get started."

"Ok, fine." Rachel took a breath and gave Santana a serious look. "I have just spent nearly two hours trying to teach Brittany English. I feel compelled to warn you her attention span is almost non-existent, and when she does pay attention it takes about three or four attempts to get her to understand." Rachel sighed and massaged her temples. "It wore me out more than I'd care to admit.

"I understand that you sometimes get frustrated with people, and it's no secret that you occasionally have a short fuse, but I need you to promise me that you won't lose your temper no matter how frustrated you get."

Santana frowned at Rachel. "So let me get this straight, you basically force me to tutor this girl, tell me she's the most frustrating person you've ever tutored, and then tell me I'm in trouble if I lose it? Have I missed anything out?"

Rachel glared up at the taller girl. "I'm serious Tana. Hard work Brittany may be, but she's also very sweet and good natured. Wherever her personality or world view have come from, she doesn't deserve to be yelled at because of them. If anything, I can't help but think the world would be a much better place with more people like her in it. So keep a handle on yourself. Please?"

Santana sagged slightly, then looked Rachel in the eye. "Fine, I promise. No matter what she does I won't even raise my voice."

"Thank you. Now for the second thing. What's going on with you and Quinn?"

Santana frowned down at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You two have been at each other's throats since the day you met, I want to know why."

The Latina just shrugged. "How should I know? She just rubs me up the wrong way for some reason. Whenever she laps me on the track, or gets an answer in class quicker than me, she just gives me this really condescending look. I guess it's not that big a deal, but sometimes people just don't get on."

Rachel nodded. "Just bear in mind, with you both on the Cheerios and us tutoring Brittany you're probably going to be around her fairly frequently, so it may be worth trying to find some common ground before things get unbearable."

"I guess you're right," Santana said. She glanced through the glass doors into the kitchen, watching the blonde girl looking at the photos on the fridge.

"Ok, I guess you'd better head up, I told Brittany I wouldn't keep you too long." Rachel said. She opened the door into the kitchen, and Santana slipped in quietly and headed through the arch and up the stairs, entering Rachel's room without knocking.

Brittany was sat on the bed with one of Rachel's cuddly toys on her lap, smiling down at the bear and making it walk across her legs. Santana didn't think she'd ever seen anything cuter. "Hey Britt," she said as she walked in, "making friends?"

Brittany looked up and smiled. "Rachel said he's called Gershwin, and I can play with him whenever I want."

"Well, I happen to know he's one of her favourites, so be careful with him," Santana said, grinning at the blonde. "How about you leave him on the bed for now and come and learn some Spanish?"

"Ok," Brittany said, putting Gershwin down and picking up her school bag, digging out her Spanish notes.

Santana spent a little over an hour trying to teach Brittany. The girl had virtually no attention span, and it didn't take the Latina long to work out what had frustrated Rachel so much. The little diva expected people to hang on her every word whenever she spoke, so to have someone zone out and start playing with stuffed animals when she's trying to teach them probably pushed her to the absolute limits of her patience. Santana knew it was working her last nerve. Even when she insisted on switching places and making the blonde sit at the desk away from the toys didn't help, she just started doodling with Rachel's extensive coloured pencil collection.

"Hey Brittany, can I ask you something?" Santana asked after over an hour of minimal progress.

"Yeah, of course," the blonde girl beamed.

"Why is it you can concentrate through Math and Science class, but you can't focus in English or Spanish? I mean for most people it's the other way around if anything."

Brittany frowned at Santana, and pursed her lips like she was really thinking. "I don't know," she said. "Numbers are easy for me, words are harder, I don't know why."

"What do you mean?" Santana pressed.

"It's like the letters won't stay still," Brittany said, "and they get jumbled up in my head. And Spanish is even worse, cause I have to learn a whole new set of words and I can't even understand the ones I'm supposed to translate from. I can't explain it very well," Brittany said, looking at the floor, "but then, no ones ever asked me to before. Most people just think I'm stupid, maybe I am."

"Hey," Santana said gently, walking over to the blonde and kneeling down in front of her, "look at me."

The blonde looked into Santana's brown eyes and immediately felt calmer. She had really pretty eyes.

"Have you ever heard of something called dyslexia?" Santana asked her.

"Does that mean like a lesbian or something?" Brittany asked, looking confused.

The Latina almost choked, but recovered admirably. "No Britt. It's kind of like an illness some people have that does what you just said. It makes words and letters get messed up. My big brother, Rico, has it. When he was at school he was struggling with English and Spanish too. Luckily his teacher had enough sense to ask him why he was having such a hard time, like I just did with you. There's some test they can do that tells them whether you have it or not and if you do, you can get lots of extra help for it, like a personal paid-for tutor to help you study, extra time in tests, stuff like that.

Brittany was frowning at Santana. "Do you think I might have this disselsia?"

"Dyslexia. And I don't know, maybe. It does sound like what Rico told me, but I'm not an expert. I bet Ms Pilsbury, the guidance counsellor, will be able to help you find out though. She'll be able to set up this test."

Brittany was smiling now, and Santana couldn't help but give her a big smile back, it was just so infectious. "So I might not be stupid?"

It was Santana's turn to frown now. "Don't ever let me hear you call yourself stupid, Britt. Whether this test tells them something or not, you are not stupid."

"But I don't understand a lot of things, and things sometimes get confusing for me." Brittany was staring at Santana, her blue eyes wide and innocent. "Some people treat me like a kid because I like toys and believe in unicorns."

Santana smiled and couldn't help but privately agree with Rachel, the world really would be better with more Brittany's in it. "Well I don't think you're a kid," she replied, "like you said, you're really good with numbers, you're good at reading people and you're an amazing dancer. I mean you came up with that incredible routine in glee in no time flat, that takes some brains."

"I thought you were mean at first," Brittany confessed to Santana, "but now I think you're like Quinn. You're mean to people so they won't get too close and hurt you, or hurt your friends, but deep down you're like a cuddly teddy bear."

Santana could feel herself flush from the tips of her fingers to the roots of her hair. She was about to reply but before she could do anything, Brittany had leaned across and kissed her full on the lips. After the initial moment of shock had passed, Santana started to kiss her back for a few seconds before she realised what she was doing. She pulled away and backed to the far wall, her hand covering her mouth, too shocked to speak at first.

"San, are you ok?" Brittany asked, using a nickname she'd never used before.

"Why did you do that?" Santana asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

The blonde started to look scared now. "I'm really sorry San, I just thought - "

"Stop calling me that," Santana said, speaking louder now, "my name is Santana, ok? Not 'San', Santana, you got that?" I was an odd thing to fixate on in the circumstances, she knew, but it beat thinking about how she felt about the kiss.

"I'm really sorry Santana," Brittany said, almost in tears now, "I didn't mean…I thought you wanted it."

"Why would I want that? Huh?" Santana spat at the blonde girl, feeling guilty but not able to stop herself from losing her temper after years of rage and frustration, of hiding who she really was, came to the fore.

Brittany walked over to her, and tried to take her hands, only for the Latina to recoil. "Don't touch me, you hear? Don't ever touch me!" She was shouting now, trying to ignore the tears running down the blondes face. "I don't want you anywhere near me ok, just get away from me!" Brittany was rooted to the spot, tears running freely down her face, wondering how someone who could be so sweet could also be so cruel. "Are you deaf or something? I SAID GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed.

She fortunately didn't get the chance to do any more emotional damage, as Rachel and Quinn came bursting into the room. Quinn took one look at her twin sobbing her heart out as Rachel took her in her arms, stroking her hair and trying to soothe her and then looked at the wild eyed and red faced Latina backed against the wall, marched across the room, and punched Santana square in the face as both Rachel and Brittany gasped in shock.

Santana felt the fist connect and her head snapped back into the wall, dazing her and making her drop to her knees, as a hundred memories of her dad came flooding back. As she finally let the sadness overtake her and felt the tears pour out, she was dimly aware of Quinn ushering Brittany out of the room and slamming the bedroom door behind her. She looked up as Rachel opened it and made to exit, but before she did she turned to face the Latina with a look of complete disappointment and betrayal on her face.

"I don't know what happened here, and frankly I'm not asking," she said calmly, "but I'm going to go now and take Brittany and Quinn home, neither of them are fit to drive. When I get back I'm going to go to bed. I want you to be in your room, and I don't want to see or hear from you again until tomorrow morning, because right now, I can't stand to look at you. For the first time in twelve years, Santana, I'm ashamed to be your friend." With that she exited the bedroom and closed the door behind her, leaving Santana a crumpled mess on the floor.


	8. Chapter 7

**Wow. Just wow. Some hugely emotional responses to the last chapter, all of which were appreciated. Replied to one or two personally, but would like to give a massive thanks to everyone who took the time to review. Britt came in for a little criticism surprisingly for me, but I guess it was slightly justified, and Rachel's criticism definitely was! Would like to single out beaner008, dazzledpixie88 and SuperNina in particular for your reviews, very much appreciated and eye-opening!**

**Thought I'd get this up a day earlier due to the response.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 7**

Rachel closed the door on Santana and raced down the stairs, hoping to catch Quinn before she drove off with Brittany. She felt a little bad about what she'd said to the Latina, but figured whatever had happened, the tall innocent blonde didn't deserve to be screamed at like that. More than anyone the shorter girl knew what could happen when Santana lost her temper.

Barrelling out of the front door, she was just in time to stop Quinn before she got behind the wheel. "Quinn, wait!" she shouted.

Quinn spun round, taking in the frantic girl in front of her at a glance. "What, Berry? If you're going to defend that bitch in there to me, save you're breath, I don't want to hear it."

"I wouldn't do that even if I wanted to, I know how angry you are with her and not without reason. I just think it might be better if you let me drive you both home."

Quinn narrowed her eyes at the short brunette. "What makes you think I either want or need you to do that?"

"You need me to because in your heightened emotional state, you run a much higher risk than normal of either being in or causing an accident," Rachel lectured, "and I would hope you want me to because we're pretty much friends by this point and you don't strike me as the type of person who would turn your anger on an innocent bystander as a result of the misbehaviour of one of their friends."

Rachel could see the anger in Quinn's eyes dissipate at these words and be overtaken by a look of defeat. "I take it you're going to insist?" the hazel-eyed blonde asked.

"Absolutely," Rachel said, folding her arms across her chest in a businesslike fashion, "you should never let friends drive angry."

"Ok, I'll get B out of the back seat and we'll go."

Rachel strolled back to her car, and wondered how things had come to this. She barely knew either of these two girls really, although she felt she knew them better after her conversation with Quinn, and yet she was willing to call out her best friend on her behaviour to defend them both.

Quinn followed her a few minutes later, still physically supporting a puffy-eyed Brittany. The tall girl looked like she might never smile again, and it broke Rachel's heart just to look at her. Once again she swallowed any guilt she felt for the way she spoke to Santana, no matter what Brittany had done she didn't deserve this.

They drove to the Fabray house in total silence, each girl lost in her own thoughts. Rachel couldn't help but wonder what had happened to make Santana lose it that badly. No matter how she looked at it, it made no sense. Santana seemed to really like Brittany, and the sweet girl would never have said something offensive, at least if everything Quinn told her was true. But by the same token Rachel couldn't picture the Latina reacting like that without some form of provocation. As much as Santana was known and feared at McKinley for her temper, the diva knew she wasn't deliberately cruel and she hadn't seen her emotionally lose control like that since before her dad's trial three years ago. She resolved to drag it out of her when she got home, ignoring her own ultimatum from earlier about not speaking to her till the morning.

As she pulled up outside the Fabray's home, she turned to face Brittany, who was still red eyed and staring into space. "I know this probably doesn't mean much coming from me Brittany," she said, "but for what it's worth I'm sorry. I don't know what happened back in my room, but whatever it was you didn't deserve to be spoken to like that."

"It's ok," Brittany managed a weak smile and looked Rachel in the eye, "you didn't do anything, you've been really nice to me."

"Would you go on ahead Britt?" Quinn asked her sister. "I'd like to talk to Rachel in private for a sec."

"Ok, Quinn. I'll leave the front door open for you."

The shorter blonde made sure her sister was in the house before turning to Rachel. "Listen, everything you said before was true," she began, "I'd never turn on someone just because of how their friends behave. But I need you to know how angry I am right now. Brittany would never have said or done anything in a million years to deserve the reaction she got."

"I know that," Rachel stated quietly, facing Quinn.

The blonde sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Look, I get that you guys have some history that I don't know too much about so I may be out of line here, but I don't get it. Since I've met her, she's been nothing but rude to me, and she's only semi-polite when you're around. I know I haven't exactly been an angel myself, but I don't get how someone like you can be friends with someone that judgmental."

"Because that isn't who she is," Rachel sighed. "I get that she can be difficult and has anger management issues, and I've already stated that I won't defend her behaviour tonight, but you're only seeing one side of her." Rachel looked out of the driver side window, remembering. "She's kind, loyal and funny. She's been there for me whenever I've needed her, and vice versa, since we were five years old. We've both been through some hard times over the years, but not once has she turned her back on me when I've been struggling, and I'd never do it to her either.

"I'm not saying Brittany did something wrong and I sincerely doubt she'd be capable of doing something deliberately hurtful to anyone from what I've seen. But something happened in that room that spooked her because the girl I saw in there backed up against the wall looking terrified? I haven't seen that girl in three years, when her home basically fell down around her ears."

Quinn stopped her scrutiny of the tiny girl sat next to her and looked up at Brittany's room, where the light had just come on. "I get you're trying to defend your friend here Rach, but I can only go off what I can see, and I'm sorry to say this but what I see is a small-minded bully who flipped out at the sweetest person you'll ever meet. From what you've said it sounds like she hasn't had the easiest life but you know me and B haven't either. And I can promise you, neither one of us would take our issues out on an innocent girl just because we could."

Quinn looked down at her feet with a regretful expression on her face. "I'm really sorry to say this, Rachel, but I don't think we can hang out again. Santana's your best friend and she'd be around and right now, I can't say what I would to if I saw her."

Rachel snapped her head around to face the blonde, and narrowed her eyes at her. "So everything you said about not blaming me for Santana's mistakes, that was all a lie I take it?" she snapped.

"Rach, please –"

"No! I get that you're angry, really I do, but you're going to make me suffer for what she did? That's just ridiculous," the brunette snorted. "You call her judgmental, but you're willing to write me off for being friends with her. You were right before, you don't know anything about our history. If you think I'm going to turn my back on her, you're very much mistaken."

Quinn started to feel her anger building up again, which had mostly dissipated on the drive home. "You don't get to be angry about this right now, ok? B's the one who got hurt, not you or your precious 'best friend', so just back off ok?"

"Well if Brittany's the one who's been hurt, why are you the one making a fuss?" Rachel was shouting now, and starting to get a little red in the face.

"Because she never would! She won't ever stand up for herself, so I have to do it for her." Quinn was matching Rachel for volume at this point.

"I'm sorry, you have to?" Rachel said, flailing her arms a little, "I wasn't under the impression you were a bought- and paid-for bodyguard."

"I'm not, but I'm not just going to stand by and let everyone treat her badly just because she's sweet and caring!"

Neither girl had noticed the front door open or Brittany return to the back seat of the car during this argument, they were both in full flow now.

"Well, just for once why don't you let her speak for herself?"

"Why don't you mind your own business, I don't recall asking for your opinion!"

"Why don't you both shut up!" Brittany shouted from the back seat, making them both jump. "Quinn, Rachel's right, it isn't your place to fight with everyone who makes fun of me and for the record, that isn't what San did. Believe it or not I can take care of myself, I'm not a child. And you," she said, her eyes narrowing at Rachel in an expression the diva had never seen on her face before, "none of this is any of your business. You're defending everything San does to Q, then telling her she can't do the same for me? You're like the biggest hippopotamus I've ever seen!"

Rachel looked at Quinn in total confusion. "I think she means hypocrite," the shorter blonde said. Both of the girls in the front seat had the decency to look ashamed of themselves.

"Now, what happened back there is between San and me," Brittany continued, eyeing the brunette and her sister, "and I'll deal with it however I want to. I don't want either of you two telling either me or her what we should be doing about it although if you want to ask her what happened, Rach, I'd be ok with that."

"Sorry," both of the other girls mumbled simultaneously, looking at their feet.

"Good." Brittany smiled then, for the first time in over an hour. "It's nice that you both care about me so much that you'd fight about what's best for me. But in future why don't you let me speak for myself, k? And I still need help with my lessons, but San thinks I need to talk to Miss Pilsbury about dis – des – I don't know, she mentioned some illness her brother had that she thinks I might have."

"Dyslexia?" Rachel said, frowning as Brittany nodded at her. "That might actually not be a bad idea, it would certainly explain why you struggle with languages so much and nothing else."

"They were going to test her for it at our old school," Quinn chipped in, "but dad wouldn't let them."

"Why not?" Rachel asked, turning her frown on Quinn.

"Mostly because he's a total jackass."

Realising that having a heart to heart about the Fabray divorce at ten at night sat in her small car probably wasn't a good idea, she decided to drop that line of questioning. "Well I'd better be heading home, my dad's will be back soon."

"Ok Rach, thanks for the ride," Quinn said, "and I'm sorry I got angry with you. You're right, there's not really any reason for me not to be friends with you, I was just being a stubborn ass."

Rachel looked into Quinn's eyes and they smiled at each other shyly. Brittany watched them from the back seat, with a small smile of her own. "Does this mean we can all be friends?" she asked.

"All of us, B?" Quinn asked.

"Totally. I still want to talk to San again first, and despite what either of you guys think I owe her an apology at least as much as she owes me one, and Rach is awesome, she let me play with her bears."

"I doubt you owe Santana an apology," Quinn said, earning a glare from her sister. "But if you say you do, then I'll go with it until you tell me what happened," she continued quickly. "And you're right, Rach is pretty cool," she said, looking hesitantly at the brunette.

"So are you. Both of you," Rachel clarified. "And I'm sorry for shouting Quinn, of course you want to defend your sister. I'd appreciate less violence next time though."

"Maybe I did go a little too far," Quinn replied, attempting to rub the tension out of the back of her neck. "And I'm sorry for shouting too. As much as it pains me to admit, I don't really know Santana that well. I'll make sure I get the whole story next time."

"Next time?" Rachel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Poor choice of words, perhaps."

"Definitely," Rachel said, laughing. Then the smile slid off her face. "If you owe her an apology, I definitely do." Her shoulders dropped and she had to fight to keep from crying. "I can't believe after all this time, after everything she's been through, I walked out on her. She would never do that to me."

"Aw, don't get upset, Rach," Brittany said consolingly from the backseat, "you'll get the chance, and so will she. You guys are so close, I'm sure it'll all be ok."

"Thanks Brittany," the brunette said with a watery smile. She took a deep breath and composed herself. "I'd better head for home, my dads will be worried. At that moment her cell phone started to ring. "Speak of the devil, it's my Daddy," she said, pressing the accept button. "Hi."

"_Rachel, where are you?"_

"Sorry Daddy, I'm outside Quinn and Brittany's, they needed a ride home. I can't explain why over the phone but I will when I get back."

There was a pause before he responded, _"Is Santana not with you?"_

Rachel felt the panic build in her chest. "No, she stayed at home. Why?"

"_Because she isn't here, sweetie. She's gone."_


	9. Chapter 8

**Thanks again for the reviews and follows, keep it up! Seems to be a bit more love for Britt now which makes me smile :) We get the intro to the Fabray mother in this chapter, hope you like her.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Brittany sat on her bed in her room, gnawing at one of her knuckles. She felt so helpless and guilty. If she hadn't kissed Santana she wouldn't have run away, this was all her fault. She wanted to help look for her, but Rachel had insisted her and her dads could manage and if they needed extra help, they'd call Finn and Puck, reasoning that the Latina probably wouldn't want to see the person who'd made her so angry. Brittany eventually backed down but made Rachel promise she'd call Quinn as soon as Santana turned up.

After Rachel left and Brittany and Quinn had gone upstairs, the taller blonde confessed to her sister what had happened. The shorter girl listened intently, more so than she usually did with her flighty sister. She told her that she wasn't completely to blame and didn't deserve the excessive reaction she got, but pointed out that she barely knew Santana and had only met her a few days previously, so she shouldn't have gone about things the way she did. Brittany could do little but agree.

"Hey, B," Brittany and Quinn's mom, Judy, was stood in the doorway.

"Hey mom," Brittany replied, "did Q tell you what happened?"

"She did," Judy replied, moving to sit on the bed and putting an arm around her daughter. "How do you feel, honey?"

Brittany looked at her knees. "Sad. And confused. I was just trying to show her that I thought she was pretty, and she didn't seem to mind at first. I didn't think she'd get so mad."

"I know, honey," Judy said, rubbing her back, "but if you think someone's pretty, it's more appropriate just to tell them, at least at first. You don't always have to show them." Judy sighed then, and rubbed her eyes. "Some people have problems with this kind of thing, we talked about this back in New York."

Brittany frowned. "You mean things like girls kissing other girls?" she asked. "That's what I don't understand though, it doesn't hurt anyone so why does it make people so mad?"

"I don't know, honey. I've never really understood it. Your father didn't like it and I went along without saying anything because that's what I'd been taught to do. But I've never understood why it's such an issue for some people."

The blonde girl looked up at her mother. "I don't think Santana's one of those people though, like I said she didn't seem to mind at first."

"Well, then maybe she's just scared," Judy replied. "Some girls who like other girls are scared of it because they know there are a lot of people out there who'll hate them for it. Or maybe you just took her by surprise and she doesn't like being startled. You won't know until you speak to her which you can't do right now, so you might as well get some sleep."

"I don't think I can, mom," Brittany said, tearing up, "I'm so worried, she's out there somewhere all alone, scared and angry with no one to look after her."

The older Fabray sighed, and looked at her daughter. She thought about what she'd do if she was a teenaged girl alone, scared and confused at this time of night and made a decision. "Get your coat, little B."

Brittany looked up again with tears in her eyes. "Why?"

"Because we're going to find your new friend and take her home. So go and get your coat, and I'll go see if Quinn wants to come too."

The blonde girl beamed at her mother. "Thanks, mom."

Over two hours later, the three Fabray's were still in Judy's car. They'd driven everywhere they could think of with no sign of Santana. Quinn had texted Rachel to let her know they were out looking as well. Rachel thanked her but told her not to approach the Latina if they did, to just call her and she'd come and collect her.

Quinn hadn't been too thrilled with the idea of being dragged out of her room to look for a girl who'd yelled at her sister, but after her mother gave her a lecture about teenaged girls being alone at night out in the world and what could happen to them, she'd agreed to come along to help the other two think of likely places. Except they'd been to every likely, and not a few unlikely, places the three of them could conjure up. Every time she got a text she hoped it was Rachel telling her they'd found her, but they were all negative responses, and requests for the Fabrays to please keep looking.

Rachel had apparently enlisted Puck and Finn by this point. Quinn knew Finn was Rachel's boyfriend, and that Puck had known Santana almost as long as Rachel had, although she'd never met either of them. She was about to suggest the three of them would be more than capable of finding the Latina and that it might be worth heading home, when Brittany shouted, "Over there!"

Quinn looked across to where she was pointing. They were driving past the park and had just reached the lake, and sure enough Santana was stood at the edge, skimming stones.

As soon as Judy stopped the car, Brittany was halfway out the door, and just yelled, "Call Rachel," over her shoulder before Quinn could catch her.

Quinn was on the phone to Rachel in seconds. "Rach? It's Quinn. We've found her."

"_WHAT? Quinn, that's amazing, thank you so much!"_

"Save your praise, short-stack. We're at the lake, you may want to get here quickly, some thing hasn't quite gone according to plan."

* * *

Brittany ran from the car towards Santana, then slowed down when she realised she didn't know what to say. She wanted to apologise but didn't want to be yelled at again. If there was one thing the blonde hated, it was confrontation, it made her fly to pieces.

As she was contemplating this, Santana happened to glance across and caught Brittany approaching hesitantly out of the corner of her eye. When she looked across fully, her face nearly brought tears back to the blonde's eyes. She didn't think she'd ever seen anyone look so hopeless.

"What do you want, Brittany?" she asked quietly.

"Rachel's dads came home and found you missing. Rachel was still outside our house so they called her, and she got everyone out looking for you."

"Even you?" Santana snorted, "I find that hard to believe."

"No, not us," Brittany said looking down, tears definitely coming now, "she actually asked us to stay home. But I couldn't sleep till I knew you were safe, so my mom drove me and Quinn around town looking for you. Rachel's on her way with her dads, and I guess she's told Puck and Finn by now so they're probably on the way too."

Santana looked angry then, and Brittany was actually happy to see some of the fight come back into her. "Oh great, so everyone gets to come see the screw-up? Santana loses her temper again and all of a sudden no one can get enough?"

"Stop it," the blonde said quietly, "they're coming because they're worried and they care about you."

"They're coming because they know what I did!" the Latina shouted. "Now that they know, they'll never speak to me again!"

Brittany's face scrunched up in confusion. "What are you talking about? You didn't do anything, I kissed you not the other way around, and besides they don't know."

"You didn't tell them?" Santana said, staring at her like she'd grown an extra head.

The blonde really looked at her then. "Of course I didn't, I'd never do that to someone. Besides, I already said you didn't do anything so there wouldn't be anything to tell. I mean I told Quinn and my mom that I kissed you but I tell them everything, and I trust them. They won't say anything about what happened unless you do."

Santana's eyes welled up with tears. "How can you be so honest with everyone? Didn't you worry they'd hate you for kissing another girl?"

"Santana," Brittany said gently, "my mom moved us halfway across the country because of it, to protect me. I kissed a girl at my last school, Chrissie. I thought she was my friend, and I really liked her. She kissed me back and told me she liked me." Brittany started crying in earnest then. "But…the next day at school…s-she told everyone what I'd done. She told them I'd k-kissed her…and that she ran away. After that, everyone hated me. They pushed me around, and called me mean names.

"One day, I was walking to cheerleading practice to meet Quinn, when a group of Chrissie's new friends stopped me. They said they wanted to talk to me in the bathroom. They hadn't been particularly bad to me since Chrissie told everyone, so I went with them, thinking maybe Chrissie wanted to apologise. But as soon as we got in the bathroom, they started hitting me. I went down on the floor and curled up into a ball, but they just started kicking me and calling me 'dyke' and 'retard'. After they left, I just sat there and cried, I was hurting so much. I texted Quinn to come and get me, and she took me to the hospital.

"My mom went into the school the next day and yelled at the Principle but she said she couldn't do anything, but I didn't understand why, no one explained to me. At the start of summer, mom started looking at somewhere she could move to in Ohio, because her family live around here. She found Lima, saw that it had a good high school, and moved us here. She told me it was for family, but I knew it was really for me. I know some people think I'm not very smart, but I'm not _that_ stupid."

* * *

Santana spent this entire conversation listening to everything Brittany said. After she finished speaking, she looked up and realised Rachel and her dads had arrived. They were hanging back, talking to Mrs Fabray and Quinn, obviously not wanted to scare her off. All the Latina could feel was absolute guilt.

She looked back across at Brittany, tears in her own eyes. "Britt, I'm so sorry. No one deserves that. Chrissie sounds like a complete bitch."

"No, she wasn't," Brittany said, making Santana look up sharply, "she was just scared. Her parents were some of those people who think there's something wrong with being gay. When she went home that night and told them what had happened, they hit her and told her she couldn't see me any more, that it wasn't right. You can't tell my mom this, but she snuck up to my room the night before we left and told me all of this. She cried and said she was sorry, that she didn't know anything about what her friends did until after it happened. I told her I forgave her, but that she couldn't be mean to other people just because she was scared or angry."

Santana thought about all the times she'd lost her temper because of her own frustrations, and nearly vomited with the guilt. She couldn't help but think if she didn't have the Berrys supporting her, she could so easily have ended up like Chrissie and possibly still could if she didn't get a grip on herself.

"For what it's worth, no way would I have forgiven her for what she did. I don't care what you say Britt, she was a stone cold bitch," Santana said, looking Brittany straight in the eye, "but that doesn't mean I don't understand. I'm kind of the same as her." She admitted this really quietly while Brittany just nodded. "I'm lucky I have Rachel and her dads to help me, but I get angry and scared sometimes. That kiss?" she was holding back tears now. "That was my first kiss with another girl, and it was nice. But it freaked me out. I wasn't expecting it and my head went all over the place. I felt scared and cornered and did what I always do when that happens. I lashed out.

"I'm so sorry, Britt. I mean like, so sorry you can't even understand how bad I'm feeling right now. And, knowing what's happened to you back in New York? That's pretty much quadrupled my guilt."

"Don't cry San," the blonde said. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too." Brittany risked stepping a little closer to the brunette. "I shouldn't have done what I did. My mom explained it to me and told me you were probably scared. I was just trying to show you that I thought you were pretty. Next time I'll just tell you, ok?"

Santana managed a smile, "that might be cool. And thanks for apologising, and for calling me pretty."

"It's true," Brittany stated, beaming now. "I don't think you're anything like Chrissie, either."

Santana wiped some of the tears from her eyes. "Why not?"

"Because you're braver than she was," she stated simply.

"I'm not fucking brave," Santana said, dropping her head, "I hide who I am from everyone except Rachel and her dads, I can't even tell my mom or my other friends, I'm a coward."

"You're not a coward just because you're not ready to come out," Brittany said gently, "and it was pretty brave even telling the people you did. You're braver because as angry as you can be sometimes, you'd never use something personal about someone to hurt them, especially not as badly as Chrissie hurt me. I forgave her and everything, and she never directly did anything to me, but all the bullying and what happened in the bathroom that day were kind of her fault. I believe that she didn't know about the attack, but she did know what her friends were like and what they could do if she told them. I don't believe you'd ever do something like that."

"You know what, Britt?" Santana said, finally managing a smile. "If anyone ever calls you stupid again, I will personally beat the shit out of them. You're the smartest person I've ever met."

"No one's ever called me smart before," Brittany said, grinning from ear to ear. "Do you really mean it, San?"

"You bet your ass I do," she said, laughing.

Before she knew what was happening, the Latina was hit by the biggest bear hug she'd ever received. She gamely tried to keep her balance but before she knew it, both her and the blonde hit the deck.

Santana enjoyed Brittany being on top of her for a brief moment, before realising this probably wasn't the most appropriate position to be in, in the circumstances. Flushing crimson, she allowed the taller girl to help her to her feet. By this point, Quinn and Rachel had jogged over, obviously concerned there was some kind of assault happening. The Latina saw her best friend smirk knowingly at her red face, before arranging her own face into an expression of worry and righteous anger.

"Santana Maria Lopez! Were exactly do you think you've been? Everyone has been out looking for you for hours! Me, my fathers, Puck, Finn and the Fabrays, who by the way I can't possibly thank enough for finding you, have been worried sick!"

"I know Rachel, and I really am very sorry ok? It was irresponsible of me and I can't imagine how worried you all were. I've apologised to Brittany profusely for what I did, and she has very graciously accepted it. I'll apologise to everyone else directly when we get back to the cars."

Rachel was unexpectedly speechless, not expecting to get an apology without a fight, and Santana took advantage of this rare silence from the diva to examine Quinn. She seemed to be going through some kind of internal struggle. Santana decided the quicker she did this the easier it would be and spoke to the shorter blonde.

"I know I didn't do anything directly to you at the house but I owe you an apology as well. Britt's your sister and you understandably care a lot about her and want to hurt anyone who hurts her. That punch by the way? That was impressive and believe me, I would know," she said smiling at Quinn, who tried, somewhat successfully, maintain her poker face. "I totally deserved it. I know you know what happened before you came in, and Britt told me what happened to her in New York. I just want to say that even though I acted like a bitch, I'm no Chrissie. I will, under no circumstances, do what she did."

Quinn appeared to be mulling this over, when Rachel unsurprisingly found her voice. "Alright, why do I feel like I'm the only one out of the loop? What exactly happened, Tana?"

"I'll tell you all about it when we get home. That is, as long as you don't mind Britt?"

"Of course not," the tall girl said, beaming at Santana and Rachel, "I totally trust her. Anyone who lets me play with her favourite bear has to be nice."

Santana inwardly cringed a little at Brittany's naivety, but figured she'd let it go knowing that Rachel was completely trustworthy in this regard. The Latina turned back to Quinn and addressed her again. "So, what do you say, Quinn? Are we cool?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes. "B might be willing to forgive you, but that doesn't mean I'm jumping on the bandwagon. However," she said, seeing the pain in her twin's eyes and the consternation in Rachel's, "I do believe you won't do anything like this again, and maybe you were a little freaked by…everything. Maybe one day I'll be 'cool', but for right now, consider yourself under observation Lopez." With that, Quinn walked back to the cars.

"Whatever, _Fabray_." Santana called after her. "We should probably go back too. As fun as it is hanging out by a lake at night in the cold wearing a t-shirt, I wouldn't say no to getting home." Brittany ran ahead to catch up with Quinn, while Rachel and the Latina strolled back together.

"You do realise we've known those two for less than forty eight hours and they've already pretty much turned our lives upside down," Rachel said matter-of-factly.

"True story," Santana shrugged. "Whatever, right? Things were getting a little stale anyway."

"As long as you don't have any more unscheduled strolls around Lima in the dead of night?" Rachel replied, looking across at the taller girl. "I'm serious, Tana. I know I was angry at you, and I want to talk to you about that, but I'll always be your friend. You don't ever need to run away from me."

"I know that Shrimp," Santana said, smiling, "I know."

"Don't think this means you're off the hook, 'Lopez'," Rachel said, mimicking Quinn's cold-as-ice delivery, "you and me will be having a serious talk when we get home."

In spite of the stressful night she'd had, Santana couldn't help but laugh.


	10. Chapter 9

**Again thanks for the reviews, especially my regular reviewers beaner008, val-cb, and Musicfutbolfan6 and a few replies again:**

**SuperNina – thanks again for the detailed review, sorry but not rushing the loving, keeping it on a slow burn ;)**

**twisted-wisdom – I haven't written everything yet so the suspense is killing me too, and so happy you're enjoying following this!**

**Update's a day later than usual I know, didn't get done at work till very late yesterday and pretty much passed out when I got home, hope you enjoy, heavy on the Pezberry this chapter.**

**Chapter 9**

Rachel was in a dilemma, and this thoroughly annoyed her. She had no idea what to do about Santana. The second they got in the house, her dads had bundled her up and taken her temperature to make sure her extended time outside at night hadn't made her sick. When her temperature showed up as normal, they still made sure she stayed wrapped in a blanket and was sent up to her room with a cup of hot chocolate.

Rachel had insisted to her dads that they weren't allowed to yell at Santana before they went out looking for her. She told them as much as she knew about what had happened, and insisted they let her be the one to speak to her, asserting it was teenage stuff that they wouldn't understand. While they reluctantly agreed not to pry into what happened, they insisted on speaking to her after school the following day about why what she did was so dangerous and to make it clear it was unacceptable behaviour as long as she was staying with them.

Now she was in her room and dressed for bed. She'd talked her dads into letting her stay up late so that she could speak to Santana tonight, reasoning neither of them would probably sleep much anyway. The only trouble was now that she'd convinced them, she had no idea what to say to the Latina. Figuring she'd work it out as she went along, she went and knocked on her friend's bedroom door.

"Come in," Santana called from inside, and Rachel opened the door and entered. The extra blankets her dads had given the girl were still bundled around her, and the mug her hot chocolate had been in had been drained. She was holding the only toy she still had from her childhood, a rag doll named Belle after the girl from Beauty and the Beast, and she looked so vulnerable Rachel nearly broke down in tears looking at her.

"Hey Tana," she said quietly.

"What's up Shrimp? Thought you'd be in bed by now."

"Couldn't sleep," she answered honestly. "I thought I'd see if you wanted to talk. I guessed you'd be having some trouble sleeping too."

"You guessed right," she sighed. "Look, I'm so sorry about everything that happened, ok?"

"I know you are Tana, God I know," the diva said, lying down and snuggling up next to the Latina, who automatically put her arm around her. "I was so worried though. Anything might've happened to you, you know that right?"

"I know," Santana said in a husky voice, obviously trying not to cry. "It's just…I couldn't keep still, you know? I felt like everything was flying apart."

"Look I wasn't kidding before when I said I wanted to know what happened with you and Brittany," Rachel began, "but if you don't want to tell me, I'll be alright with that. Besides, I can probably guess at least part of it anyway. But what was it that made you freak out to the degree you felt all you could do was run? Because whatever happened, I doubt that was it."

"It wasn't," Santana said quietly, "I was angry at myself for how I reacted, but I probably would've just stormed off to my room at that point and dealt with it tomorrow." She closed her eyes, trying not to think about where her mind went next. "Then you guys came in and saw what I'd done. You didn't even know why I was yelling, but you both assumed what happened was all my fault. Then when Quinn hit me, all I could think of was my father, how nothing I ever did was good enough for him, how he responded with anger and violence whenever I did something he didn't like, or even something that was unexpected and surprised him. And before you say anything, I don't mean I was picturing Quinn as my father when she hit me. I was picturing myself as my father and Quinn as my mother, or rather my mother as I wish she'd been, strong and brave enough to protect Rico and me. That's where I was heading when Britt found me at the park, I was going to my mom's, I just didn't realise how far it was on foot and I got tired. Then I realised I'd left my phone and purse at home so figured I'd just stay there till morning and walk back."

"Why did you want to go there?" Rachel asked gently, taking Santana's hand.

"I wanted to ask my mom why she didn't protect us. Why, even now that asshole's been gone for three years, she still can't protect me, why she doesn't care about me." Santana started to cry. "I wanted to ask her if she hates me because I'm just like my dad."

"Hey now, shhh," Rachel tried to sooth the sobbing girl. She settled for making calming noises and rocking her until she calmed down, then she put her hand under her chin and lifted her head so they were face to face. "You are nothing like your father. You've only hit two people in your life, both times to protect someone you cared about. And yes, you're actions tonight weren't great, but they were more understandable than you might think and you were simply reacting to a stressful situation. While I would never recommend you react in that same way again, you're allowed to have your feelings, and losing your temper over something that's been affecting you for a while, without resorting to violence? I'd hardly say that makes you anything like your father."

Hey, Rachel Berry's back," Santana smiled a rather watery smile.

"And don't you forget it," Rachel smiled back. "Listen, Brittany's forgiven you and so have I. If anything, I'm sorry myself for not giving you the chance to expain. My dad's want a little chat with you tomorrow but it'll be more about your safety than a true scolding and Quinn…well, that's probably the closest anyone gets to acceptance of an apology with her. From what I know of her, she isn't particularly forgiving where Brittany's concerned."

"Totally," Santana agreed, "not without reason though. How much did she tell you tonight? About why they moved I mean?"

"She told me it was to do with Brittany getting bullied, and that girl Chrissie that you mentioned was involved, and that she got assaulted pretty badly. She didn't tell me what the bullying was about though."

"Brittany told me her half of the story," Santana mused, "I guess she wouldn't mind if I told you, she did say she trusted you."

Rachel found herself becoming more and more shocked and angry as she heard Brittany's side of things. Then nodding in understanding when Santana told her what happened in her room, how guilty she felt straight away and how much more guilty she felt after the blonde had told her all of this.

"No wonder Quinn acts the way she does," Rachel said after she finished, "if that happened to you, I don't know what I'd do."

"I know. Brittany's really had it tough. When all that stuff happened in your room, I felt plenty guilty when I flipped out, but couldn't stop myself and was completely freaked. After she told me," Santana shrugged, "it was no wonder she got so upset."

"It is horribl," Rachel said sadly, "it's amazing she stays so positive. If that had been me, there's no way I'd be as happy as she is."

Santana just shrugged. "Different people handle things in different ways I guess. You throw yourself into singing, I get violent and Quinn throws up walls from what I can tell. Britt's obviously decided the best way to beat these people is to not let them bother you. Her being cheerful, apart from just being who she is anyway, is her way of showing them that nothing they do can touch her, that it doesn't get through. Her positive outlook is kind of like her own wall. Her and Quinn aren't all that different under the surface, their walls just take on a different appearance, that's all."

"Wow Santana," Rachel beamed, "that was incredibly insightful."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," the Latina responded, a little offended. "All I'm trying to say is under the rainbow coloured surface, Britt's pretty tough."

"I could have told you that before you ever spoke to her, Tana," Rachel replied. "I spent all yesterday shepherding her to lessons. Do you honestly think no one once all day said anything about her intelligence? I may be pretty dense about some things, but I'm not blind or stupid, any more than she is. She noticed, and it just seemed to ricochet off her, like she was wearing bullet proof armour. I don't even think Quinn knows how tough she is."

"That's because Quinn doesn't see anything unless it happens directly under her nose," Santana snorted dismissively.

"Don't underestimate her, Tana," Rachel warned, "that would be even less intelligent on your part than underestimating Brittany. _She_ might not hurt you for selling her short, but I guarantee you Quinn would."


	11. Chapter 10

**Thanks again for the alerts and reviews, keep em coming**

**To the Guest who left a review on the last chapter: I'll probably be keeping the chapter lengths roughly as they are, maybe a few longer or shorter here or there just because that's how I'm comfortable writing, I end where it feels natural, thanks for your feedback though :)**

**Chapter 10**

When Santana woke up the following morning, she honestly couldn't remember ever feeling so drained. Although she'd managed to get away without making herself sick from her previous nights antics, she was completely emotionally drained. She could already hear Rachel moving around next door, and decided she might as well get up, lying in bed wouldn't really solve anything.

Stumbling downstairs, her hair in disarray, she wandered into the kitchen to find Leroy frying up some bacon for himself and her, as they were the only people in the house who ate meat.

"Hey, trouble," he said when he turned and saw her standing sleepily in the doorway, "how're you feeling today?"

"Like roadkill," Santana muttered grumpily, taking a seat at the kitchen table, "I need more sleep."

"Well, you aren't getting any today," the older man said turning his attention back to the grill, "you aren't missing school on my watch."

Santana just shrugged. "Hey, I'm not complaining, it's my own fault."

Leroy served up the bacon and a few slices of bread. "Well, we'll talk about that later, me and Hiram want to discuss it but he had to go in early. Just try and survive the school day without killing anyone, ok?" he said, grinning at the Latina.

"I make no promises," she replied cheekily, taking a healthy serving of bacon. She turned around in time to see Rachel enter the kitchen, looking disgustingly fresh.

"Morning daddy, morning Tana," she chirruped brightly, "did you sleep well?"

Leroy chuckled at her. "You're as bad as your dad in the morning, do you know that?"

"I don't see what's so wrong with greeting people cheerfully," she huffed, heading for the fridge. "Anyway, are you ready for school today, Tana? We have glee first thing, and I've got some great ideas for Sectionals."

"First thing?" Santana said, surprised. "That's when Brittany has her trial. I'm gonna have to miss it today, and Brittany won't be there either."

"Why would Sue trial someone during lesson time?" Rachel asked, looking confused.

"Oh please," Santana snorted, "you know it's cause she's trying to disrupt glee practice. She can't get away with having Cheerios practice at the same time, but she can get away with this."

Rachel looked distinctly annoyed. "We have Sectionals coming up soon, we can't take too much disruption."

"Well you're the one who gets to complain to Sue about it, I know I'm not dumb enough." With that, Santana polished off her mound of bacon and went upstairs to get ready.

* * *

"It's weird seeing you in your Cheerios gear heading to school," Rachel said on the drive in, "you're normally the only one who doesn't strut down the corridors in uniform, what's going on?"

Santana shrugged while she fidgeted with the radio. "Not much point turning up out of uniform, I'd only have to get changed straight away for this trial."

"Will Quinn be there?"

"I doubt it. Sue made a bit of a fuss about you and Britt being there for Quinn's trial, she'd probably just kick her out."

Rachel parked up and got out of the car, followed by Santana both girls throwing their bags over their shoulders. "Well, I'm sure she'll make it. Based on what I've seen in glee, she can move."

Santana followed Rachel into the school building and silently agreed. She'd never seen anyone who moved so gracefully and naturally. The Latina knew she was pretty skilled herself, she wouldn't be Cheerios captain if she wasn't, but Brittany was in a whole other class, like she was born to move. Distracted as she was by her thoughts of the tall blonde, she wandered though the halls without really thinking about where she was going.

"Oof, careful San." She looked up to see Finn looking down at her, slightly winded. "Remind me never to annoy you, you do some serious accidental damage," he said as he bent down to kiss Rachel on the head.

"Noted," she said, "and sorry, head's up my ass today."

"Just today?" he teased, earning a swat each from Rachel and Santana.

"Hey, thanks for helping look for me last night, and sorry you had to."

"No problem," he said, pulling her into an unexpected hug, "I'm just glad you're ok. You kind of interrupted Puck's date night though, so he may be a little pissed."

"Please, date night?" Santana snorted. "In my book, random hook-ups don't count as dates."

"Well we'd better get to glee," Rachel said to Finn "Mr Schue's already going to be disappointed that he's two people down today."

"Wait, aren't you coming?" Finn said, turning to Santana.

She probably looked as disappointed as she felt. "No sorry Jolly Green, Sue's trialling the new girl this morning and I have to be there."

"Ok, well I'll see you in Math later then," he replied, waving as he took Rachel's hand and headed to the choir room.

Santana sighed and trudged towards the gym. Even though her and Brittany had talked everything out, she still felt nervous about seeing her again, and no doubt despite what Quinn said, she'd still be holding a grudge against the Latina. She had a bad feeling that the shorter of the siblings was just waiting to get her away from Rachel and Brittany long enough to give her what for. Santana was more than confident in her ability to physically defend herself, but she didn't think either of the other two girls would be too impressed with them fighting.

She entered the gym to find Becky and Sue already seated behind the table and Brittany ready to go, bouncing on her heels and looking insanely excited. "Good of you to join us, Lopez," Sue said, ignoring the fact that they were early and Santana was actually on time. As far as the coach was concerned if you turned up after her, you were late.

Santana apologised and took her seat, switching off as Sue took Brittany's name and explained what she had to do. When the blonde started moving Santana didn't even pretend to observe technically, she once again found herself completely mesmerised. It didn't matter how stressed or distracted she felt, as soon as Brittany started dancing her brain went to mush. If anything, she was more impressive than Quinn in hers, and she had blown coach away. Unlike her shorter sister who you could tell was improvising, Brittany's routine looked carefully choreographed. If she was feeling cynical, the Latina would say that Quinn had told her what to expect and spent the evening practicing with her. She quickly dismissed this notion however, remembering the eventful night they had all had. She just had to acknowledge that Brittany was clearly just a cut above.

At the end, Sue gave her somewhat guarded praise and welcomed the blonde to the Cheerios, informing her that practice was that night after school.

After Santana had been to get changed, she found Brittany waiting for her outside the locker room. The Latina was somewhat nervous, not knowing what to expect but the blonde just smiled at her.

"I thought you might want to catch the end of glee practice," she said enthusiastically.

"Why not," the Latina replied falling into step next to the blonde. She felt like she should say something but couldn't for the life of her work out what. "So last night was pretty crazy, huh?" She said, inwardly cursing herself for not coming up with anything better.

"Yeah," the blonde replied, "I mean, I'm ok today, but Quinn was really grumpy this morning, she doesn't cope well without much sleep."

"Well, that's one thing we have in common at least," Santana stated as they approached the choir room.

Brittany turned around and beamed at her before going in. "You two are more alike than you know. I think that's why you fight so much, because you can't stand to be wrong. I told her the same thing last night."

Santana pondered this as she followed Brittany towards the choir room. In her heart of hearts she knew there was something to what the blonde said, and marvelled once again at her insightfulness. In another situation or another life, it was a distinct possibility she could have been friends with Quinn, but it seemed unlikely to her after their behaviour towards each other from the start.

As the two cheerleaders entered the choir room, Rachel was unsurprisingly just taking her seat after performing a solo for everyone's pleasure, although their were only two people in the room looking impressed. One of them was of course Finn, who was applauding proudly and enthusiastically. Santana narrowed her eyes at the other. It was Quinn.

The other twin was sat in Santana's usual seat and by and large was portraying her usual mask of indifference, but even she was visibly amazed by her best friends' voice. The Latina had heard Rachel sing hundreds of times over the years, but was still often moved by her voice so she could understand the reaction. Where things jarred slightly was why she was there in the first place.

"Welcome ladies," Will said, smiling at them both, "looks like we have two new members in less than a week, it must be some kind of record."

Santana just scowled and found a seat next to Puck, not having the energy that day to argue over her seat. Puck gave her a shoulder bump and a smile, but otherwise gave no acknowledgement of last night's events, showing some tact for a change. Brittany squealed and unabashedly ran to Quinn and sat on her lap. Even Quinn managed a smile at that, it was hard not to be happy witnessing Brittany's excitement.

Practice was over ten minutes later, and Santana fell in behind the twins just as Brittany was asking her sister why she joined.

"Well I was supposed to be in lesson with Santana, but because she normally has glee I had a free period. Plus you spent the whole night going on and on about how much you enjoyed it, so I thought I'd give it a try."

When Rachel and Brittany bounced off to their next class, Santana rounded on the shorter blonde.

"No way is that the real reason you joined glee, not after making such a big deal about how lame it is."

"I wasn't under the impression a private conversation with my sister is any of your business," she snarled at the Latina.

"You've been spending too much time with Rachel," Santana snorted at Quinn, "and answer the question. What's your angle? If you're just here to bring down the club, you know I'll have to take you down."

Quinn rolled her eyes at Santana, and the Latina cursed herself for her seeming inability to be polite to the blonde. "As much as I'd love to annoy you more, I don't have an 'angle', as you put it. My only reason to join is to keep an eye on B. And on you," she said, narrowing her eyes. "My sister may have forgiven you but I still don't completely trust you. I'm there to make sure you don't blow up at her again." She took a breath to compose herself. "Now, how about we head to class?"

The rest of the day dragged for Santana. Her and Quinn spent the day either ignoring each other or engaging in awkward and stilted conversation. The only respite she got was at lunch when the blonde went to meet her sister to speak to Ms Pilsbury. She trudged towards Cheerios practice thinking her day couldn't possibly get any worse as she changed into her uniform.

"Ladies, gather round," Sue yelled through her megaphone, Becky as always glued to her side, "I have an announcement for you before you go through the motions of disappointing me.

"As you all know, this year we'll be going for a record seventh Nationals title in a row. Last year was a win, but it was a close win. There was sloppiness in that final that I wouldn't expect to see if you'd had a leg amputated," she glared around the group, almost daring someone to object. Santana satisfied herself with rolling her eyes at her demanding coach.

"As you all know, a squad is only as strong as it's weakest member, with that in mind, Robin and Alison, you're cut. I've seen bears with more agility than you two." Sue paused while she allowed Becky to escort the stricken-looking pair from the gym. "Also, strong leadership is something this squad desperately requires. Lopez has done a reasonable job captaining this rabble, but I've decided to give her an extra hand in whipping you into shape."

Santana had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that intensified when she noticed Brittany stood next to her looking incredibly proud and Quinn on her far side looking smug.

"I have decided to appoint as Lopez' vice-captain, Fabray the shorter," Sue stated, confirming Santana's worst fears.


	12. Chapter 11

**This is my longest chapter yet, hope you enjoy**

**Lots more alerts for the last chapter but not many reviews questions? Comments?**

**goshtperfect: There will be more Faberry in the coming chapters, not this one but the next one for sure. Don't worry, we're getting there!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 11**

Leroy Berry rubbed his hand across his face as he paced around the living room and sighed. He was with Hiram waiting for the girls to return from Santana's moms, and honestly didn't know what to say. It was bad enough trying to instil discipline in your own child but having to do it to someone else's, especially when you don't know the whole situation or even if the potential offender in question has done anything wrong.

"Leroy will you please come and sit down, you're making me nervous babe," Hiram said affectionately, watching his husband work himself up. "They'll be home soon, then this whole sorry situation can be put behind us."

"That's just it though, isn't it," Leroy replied in his deep voice. "This 'whole sorry situation' as you put it? How much do we really know about it? We can guess there was some argument and Santana felt the need to escape, but that's it. I mean come on, she won't be the first teenager to take off when she's upset and she definitely won't be the last."

Hiram, resigning himself to the fact that his husband wasn't going to sit down, walked over to him and started massaging the taller man's shoulders. "I know that. In fact, I seem to remember an incident when we were teenagers when a certain someone turned up at my bedroom window in the dead of night throwing stones up because they'd run away," he said playfully while Leroy chuckled at the memory. "But things are different now. I know we aren't legally Santana's guardians, but she needs to know why what she did was so wrong. I don't know about you but I couldn't have been more worried last night if it had been Rachel out there."

Leroy sighed and turned around to face his husband. "But we don't know the whole situation, and neither of them will talk. What if we go in all guns blazing and she disappears again?"

"When have you ever gone in 'all guns blazing?" Hiram teased. "We're just gently letting her know that running away isn't the answer."

"She's just a girl, Hiram," Leroy sighed, pulling the shorter man into a hug, "and with everything she's gone through, I'm just reluctant to lay down the law on this. I mean you saw her last night when we found her. We're lucky that Brittany girl had then sense to talk her down, seriously she must be all kinds of smart. But the look in her eyes when we got her home…it scared me, honey. I haven't seen her look that lost in a long time."

Hiram pulled back slightly and looked his husband in the eye. "Well, it comes down to this. If we don't have this conversation with her and she goes AWOL again, don't you think everyone will feel worse?" Leroy had a pained look in his eyes. "I'm not suggesting it will happen again," Hiram said soothingly, "but we need to let her know that there's nothing she could do that would make us want her to leave. That she can talk to us about anything. That even if we aren't home, we're only a phone call away."

They heard the front door. Hiram looked up at Leroy again and grinned. "Are you ready for this?"

"No. But I don't really have much choice," he sighed, then called out, "girls, could you join us in the living room please?"

There was a pause, then Rachel responded, "we have a lot of homework to do, daddy, can it wait?"

"I'm afraid not. Now please, girls." He turned to Hiram, who was smirking at him. "Don't make this harder than it is. And put you're game face on."

Fortunately, Hiram had managed to rearrange his features into something more serious by the time Rachel and Santana entered, but Leroy was having some difficulty maintaining his stern demeanour, especially when he saw the girls. Santana was slightly in front of their daughter, and had a 'kill with one glance' expression on her face, while Rachel was looking petrified and was frantically making the 'kill' gesture to her parents behind the Latina's back.

"What?" Santana snapped.

"Bad day, honey?" Leroy asked, paling slightly.

"You have no idea." She threw her school bag down on a chair, then seemed to think of something. "Sorry for snapping by the way." Leroy could honestly say that was definitely not the most heartfelt apology he'd ever received, but decided to go with it.

"That's alright, we all have stressful days sometimes," he replied, turning to his husband who was hiding his face in his hand in disbelief.

"Dad, daddy, I know you wanted to speak to us, but may I speak to you both in private first?" Rachel asked, then turned to Santana. "Tana, could you go upstairs and get started please? I'll be up shortly."

"Whatever," she replied, picking up her bag and trooping upstairs. Hiram was now staring at his husband, not quite believing he was allowing this to happen.

"Rachel, sweetie, I really needed to speak to Tana as well," Leroy said to his daughter, trying but failing to sound stern.

"I know, but I need to say something first before you start," she replied. She then sighed and looked up at both of her fathers, pleading with her eyes for them to understand.

Leroy sighed again, and waved his hands erratically in the air. "Go ahead."

"Now, wait just a minute," Hiram interceded. "Rachel, I understand the Santana has had a stressful few days, but we need to address what happened last night as quickly as possible."

Rachel now switched her attention to her dad, and Leroy decided to sit down and settle in for what would probably be a long verbal battle.

"I understand that you need to have certain rules in your home, dad," she replied, hands on hips facing down Hiram, "but you really need to listen to what I have to say before you speak to her."

Thus began yet another verbal sparring match between the two. Leroy would have been impressed with their vocabulary if he hadn't spent the last seventeen years listening to this. After a few minutes he started to tune out, and wondered if either of them would notice if he went and got himself a cup of coffee and a snack. It had been a stressful 24 hours for him too, after all.

"..don't you agree honey?"

He realised too late that his husband had addressed his latest remark to him. "Ummm…"

"Daddy, were you even listening?" Rachel shouted. Leroy couldn't help but be amused by the almost identical scandalised expressions on the faces of his daughter and husband. They were both completely adorable, after all. He managed to control his features and addressed them both.

"No I wasn't. Mostly because you were both going around in circles." He turned to face his husband. "Honey, we're not going to get anywhere unless you let her tell us what she needs to, so why not hear her out?"

Hiram sighed, and gestured at his daughter to go ahead.

"Thank you," she said with as much dignity as you can muster. "You both already know that Tana had a bad time last night. I still can't tell you what happened," she stated before they asked, "she'll tell you herself when she's ready. I'd hoped she'd be happier after her day at school, but something happened that has made her a little…out of sorts."

"What?" Leroy asked, looking confused. "I mean, I know we don't know what happened last night, but surely nothing happened at school that even compares?"

Rachel sighed and looked at her feet. "Nothing happened that will be too emotionally damaging. At least, I hope not," she mumbled to herself. "Suffice it to say, it's something that has severely bruised her ego, and she is not in the best frame of mind at this time to be reprimanded for last night's misdemeanours."

Hiram looked at her in disbelief, then quickly pulled himself together. "Sweetie I'm sorry, but a bruised ego is no reason to get out of a scolding."

Leroy was looking thoughtfully at his daughter, who's eyes were still trained to her shoes. "What happened, Rachel?"

The diva looked up at Leroy gratefully before she responded. "Quinn has been made joint captain of the Cheerios."

Both men waited for a while. When they realised no more information was forthcoming, they looked at each other in confusion. Turning back to Rachel, Leroy said, "Is that it?" As it turns out, that was the wrong thing to say.

"DADDY! This is terrible! Tana and Quinn can barely stand to be in the same room as each other, let alone have to work together. Add to that Tana's position as the most popular girl in school is under threat and this makes a total disaster!"

"Ok, calm down sweetie," Hiram soothed, glaring at Leroy as if this was somehow all his fault. "I'm sure Tana will be just as popular as she's always been."

"I know that! But she seems to think that Quinn's trying to usurp her life. She doesn't get that she's doing the same thing Tana is, getting to the top so she can protect the people she cares about."

"I understand that she's upset, Rach," Leroy said, "but we still need to speak to her."

Fine, but can it not at least wait until tomorrow? I may be able to calm her down by then." Rachel pleaded with her fathers.

The two men looked at each other again, and Hiram just shrugged, letting Leroy decide. "Ok. But this is happening tomorrow no matter what."

Rachel smiled and jumped over to hug him. "Thank you for understanding daddy."

"No problem," he sighed. "But will you please tell her there are things much more important than popularity?"

Rachel looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. "She already knows that, daddy. Why do you think she goes to all this trouble?"

* * *

Rachel knocked on Santana's bedroom door, not quite sure what she'd find.

"Come in," the Latina called, and Rachel entered the room. Her friend was lay on the bed reading through her Biology notes.

"Well this is a first, you started your homework without me," Rachel teased.

"Don't get used to it, Shrimp," Santana replied, smiling in spite of herself.

Rachel closed the door behind her and sat on the end of Santana's bed. "Alright, spill. What's annoyed you so much?"

Santana looked at her like she was crazy. "Do you really need to ask that?"

Rachel waved her arms in the air dismissively. "Quinn, Cheerios co-captain, yada yada yada. I know the parts you've already told me, now I want the truth."

"What if I don't feel like talking?"

Rachel shrugged. "Then I'd say you owe me. I just talked my dad's into backing off for another day so that has to have earned me something."

"Ugh, fine," Santana said, glaring at the diva, "but let's keep this short. I feel like I've had about a hundred deep and meaningfuls in a twenty four hour period, and that's not how I roll. I do have a rep to maintain."

"Well, the quicker you tell me what's bothering you, the quicker this conversation's over," Rachel replied a little haughtily.

"Whatever. It's just…me and you have always been, well, me and you. I know you have Finn as well, but you guys have never gone past casual dating, and him and me get on." Santana looked Rachel in the eye. "But things are different now. We only met Britt and Quinn on Monday, it's now Friday and they're taking over our lives. I mean, we both tutor Britt and they're both in Cheerios and glee, I just feel like we can't get away from them. Now that Fabray's my co-captain, I'm gonna have to spend more time with someone who constantly works my last nerve and goes out of her way to make me feel not good enough." She sighed and lowered her eyes, looking exhausted as she let the day's events wash over her. "I guess I miss when it was just me and you."

Rachel looked at her friend, really looked at her for the first time that day. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her shoulders were slumped and she could barely keep her head up. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for keeping her parents at bay for another day. Any more stress, and she might break.

Like she did the night before, Rachel cuddled up to Santana's side. "You know you'll never lose me, right? I'm always going to be here. But new people are going to come into our lives from time to time, some will stick around and some won't. I know you and Quinn have your issues, but like it or not she's here to stay for the time being, you said it yourself there's no getting away from her," the diva smiled and Santana snorted out a laugh. "The fact is, things will go better for both of you if you attempt to work with her instead of fighting her. If I didn't know better I'd say that's why Sue made you co-captains."

Santana smiled evilly. "Sue made us co-captains because she wants one of us to kill the other, that way only the strongest will survive."

Rachel laughed. "That's probably true. But instead of going along with her plan, why don't you scupper her for once?"

Santana rubbed at her tired eyes. "It ain't that easy, Shrimp. If you really want me to try with the Ice Queen, I will but this has to go both ways. If she won't play ball, there's not much I can do."

"Are you completely dense, Santana?" Rachel snorted. "You know full well how to get in her good graces." When Santana just looked at her blankly, the diva rolled her eyes. "Brittany! You start being super-nice to her and Quinn will soften up in a heartbeat. Why do you think she gets on with me so well?"

"I guess I didn't really think about it. Fine, starting Monday I'll give it a shot."

"Excellent!" Dinner probably won't be ready for a while and you have all weekend to do your homework, so why don't you have a nap? I'll call you when the food's ready."

"Yes ma'am," Santana saluted as Rachel got up. The shorter girl just rolled her eyes and left the room.

* * *

"Surprise!" Quinn jumped a foot in the air as her and Brittany got home from Cheerios practice. Judy was waiting for them in the living room, the place decked out with balloons and 'congratulations' banners.

"Mom! What is all this, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Judy just smiled at her, handing her a glass of non-alcoholic champagne. "Brittany called and told me what happened at school. You're there a week and already cheerleader co-captain, I'm so proud of you," she said, pulling her daughter into a hug.

Brittany ran past them both and sat herself down on the couch, playing with the balloons. Judy led Quinn into the hall. "I got a call from a Ms Pilsbury today as well, she has someone coming to the school in two weeks to speak to Brittany."

Quinn sighed in relief. When they'd been to speak to the guidance counsellor she had said it may take a while but she'd do what she could. "I thought it would be longer, that's great news."

Judy looked at her daughter, slightly concerned. "You are happy about your cheerleading thing, aren't you honey?"

"Of course! And thank you for all of this, it means so much."

"Anything for my girls," she smiled, "you know that." She searched her daughter's eyes then. "You know it doesn't have to be like last time, right? You don't have to do things just to keep her safe all the time, you need to take care of yourself as well."

"I will, mom. We'd better get back in there before she worries."

Judy and Quinn re-entered the living room to find Brittany lay on her back batting balloons into the air. Both women couldn't help but smile at her.

After they had dinner and everything had been cleared away, Judy sat back down at the kitchen table with her daughters. "So, did everything from last night get dealt with? Is your friend ok?"

Quinn rolled her eyes as Brittany told their mother she was fine. Why was everyone so fixated on how she was? Was it not Brittany who got yelled at and cried?

"What about you, honey?" her mother said, addressing Quinn directly, "I know how angry you were last night."

"I've promised not to cause any trouble with her, if that's what you mean," she replied, avoiding eye contact.

"You kinda already have, Q," Brittany said quietly. "You're her co-captain now, and you two really aren't friends. That will have upset her."

"Why are you two so fixated on what upsets her?" Quinn responded, raising her voice slightly. "It's not my fault I got promoted, if she wants to stay on top, she needs to up her game. Besides, I'm only doing this to protect you, you could be a little more grateful," she snapped.

Brittany looked upset and Judy looked at Quinn sharply. "Young lady, we've just had this conversation in the hall, you swore to me that wasn't the reason."

"I don't need you to protect me," Brittany said, looking Quinn in the eye, "and I never asked you too. I'm not a baby Q, I can take care of myself."

Quinn deflated slightly. "I know you can, B, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Don't get me wrong I don't love cheerleading, but I'm good at it and if I stay at the top, it'll get me a scholarship to a good college after graduation."

"You don't need to do that, little Q," Judy said, frowning slightly, "I'll support you through college."

"Mom, I appreciate everything you've done for me. For both of us," she added, looking at her sister, "but you've already done so much, and keeping this up could get me a free ride. It's not that bad, plus it keeps me in shape. Coach Sylvester is nuts, but she's not all bad."

"Well, as long as you're sure. I'll get you through college if I have to, and I won't think any less of you if it gets too much." Judy stood up and went upstairs to take a shower.

"Q, will you at least talk to San? It would be easier for everyone if you two got along," Brittany said, pleading with her sister.

Quinn sighed and looked at her. "Fine. But I'm only doing this for you and Rachel, otherwise I'd avoid her like the plague."

Brittany seemed to hesitate for a minute, then carefully said, "Rachel's opinion seems to mean a lot to you. She's not the kind of person you're normally friends with."

Quinn immediately went on the defensive. "Maybe I'm just bored of the conversation from airhead cheerleaders, it might be nice to have a conversation with someone other than you and mom who has an IQ higher than ten. Plus she's almost as protective of you as I am, she proved that last night. She's loyal, caring, sweet and kind." Realising she may have said too much, the shorter girl stopped talking and glared into space.

"I wasn't saying it was a bad thing, it just seemed like there was more to it than her just being protective of me. I like her too," Brittany reassured her sister.

"Well that's it, she's interesting and she cares about you. Why does there need to be more to it?" Quinn responded, raising her voice again and storming to her room.

_She's interesting, she cares about Brittany,_ Quinn kept telling herself in bed that night. _That's all there is to it. There's nothing else. Nothing._


	13. Chapter 12

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, I asked and I received! The general consensus seems to be, in the words of Monty Python, 'Get on with it!' This chapter pushes the story on a little more, and we have the beginnings of an unholy alliance towards the end of the chapter. Again, please review and let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

The following morning found Santana stumbling downstairs at 8am, tired and hungry. This past week had been the most stressful she'd had since pseudo-moving in with the Berry's. She sighed at that thought. It was all too easy to think of this place as home but it wasn't, not really. She belonged with her mother, she needed what any teenage girl needed, the love and support of her parents, which she had been lacking most of her life. Sure, her mother was loving with her when she was younger, but since Emilio went to jail she'd become more and more dependent on her daughter to be taken care of when it should always have been the other way around.

She was happy that her brother could stay for the weekend after having to go home for an emergency the day before, and immediately felt guilty. If she could just be strong enough to be there for her mother more, her brother wouldn't have to spend so much time travelling to take care of her. She resolved that from now on, she would be there for her mother more.

Upon entering the kitchen, she found both Berry men sat in comfortable silence enjoying the relaxation of an unhurried breakfast without having to dash off to work. Leroy was humming contentedly to himself while absentmindedly stroking his husbands arm with the hand that wasn't occupied with a bacon sandwich, while Hiram chewed on his cereal, immersed in the paper. Santana couldn't help but smile to herself. _This is what a relationship should be like_ she thought _just enjoying each other's company, no need for constant talk or arguments_.

Leroy noticed her enter first and smiled. "Hey, it lives! Didn't think we'd see you till much later in the day." Hiram looked up upon hearing his husband speak and smiled at his permanent lodger.

"Morning guys," Santana yawned. The previous evening's events came to mind and she figured at this point she should probably say something. "I'm really sorry about last night," she started, looking a little ashamed of herself. "I know Rachel told you what happened and it probably sounded pretty trivial, but with everything else that's been going on it was just one step too far."

"No problem, sweetie," Leroy answered, getting up to give her a hug, "we all let stuff get on top of us sometimes. Speaking of which, why don't we talk about the other night?"

Santana felt a little defeated, but in all honesty she knew this was coming, if only because Rachel gave her a heads up. She nodded and took a seat opposite Hiram, while Leroy sat in his previous seat next to his husband.

Hiram put down his paper and looked at Leroy who nodded at him, allowing him to start the conversation. "We've already spoken a little to Rachel about what happened that night. She wouldn't give us any details but told us something had happened that spooked you, and pointed out that you'd never done anything like this before. Would you like to fill us in?" Hiram caught her eyes and looked at her expectantly.

Santana had gone over this in her head dozens of times in the past few days, never quite deciding on whether or not to tell the Berry's what had happened, but now it seemed the choice was obvious. Everyone else involved in the situation knew, up to and including Judy Fabray, so it made no sense keeping Rachel's fathers out of the loop after everything they'd done for her. Taking a deep breath she launched into the story, only leaving out the details of Brittany and Quinn's past.

When she finished both men looked a little shell-shocked. She knew they had to have been expecting something like this from the hints Rachel had given them, but to actually hear it must have been a lot to take in.

After a few moments, Leroy broke the silence. "Well, it certainly sounds like you had an eventful evening."

Hiram rolled his eyes at his husbands hedging, and Santana had to suppress a chuckle. She sobered instantly when Hiram turned his attention to her.

"Young lady, I sincerely hope you apologised to Brittany. We know you're having some issues accepting your sexuality, but that's no reason to take those frustrations out on another human being who seems to be going through the same thing." He sighed, and ran his hands through his already messy hair. "That being said, I guess your reaction with everything that happened was understandable. Not ideal or condoned, but understandable."

Leroy nodded in agreement. "And we should probably have words with Rachel about the way she spoke to you as well. Emotional she may be, but we didn't raise her to turn her back on her friends without listening to an explanation."

Santana appreciated and understood everything both men had said up to this point but realised she needed to intervene. "Please, you don't need to do that. Me and Rachel have already talked everything out and she's apologised and promised she'll listen in future. If you guys rake it up with her again now, it'll just make things awkward again."

Leroy and Hiram looked at each other, and Hiram managed a grin. "When did these kids get so smart?" he commented with a smirk.

"I resent that," an indignant voice from the doorway interjected. All three people in the kitchen looked up to see a dressing gown clad Rachel Berry standing in the doorway with seriously large bed hair.

Santana couldn't suppress a laugh. "Nice mullet, Shrimp."

Rachel stamped her foot. "I thought she was supposed to be getting scolded, why are you letting her insult your daughter?" she said, eyeing her fathers.

"We would intervene, but it's kind of difficult when your hair's doing its best Diana Ross impression," Leroy replied unhelpfully.

Rachel stamped her foot again and exited the kitchen in a perfect storm out.

"She gets that attitude from you," Leroy said teasingly to his husband.

He laughed along. "No argument there. So, Tana," he said turning his attention back to the Latina girl, "about your punishment."

"Punishment?" she said incredulously. "I thought you were just going to tell me off."

Hiram looked at her seriously. "You need to understand what was wrong with how you reacted. With that in mind, we're going to ground you for a week, starting Monday."

"What? That's totally unfair, I'm not the only one to blame here!"

"We know," Leroy interjected, "and Rachel will be receiving the same punishment. We can't control what Mrs Fabray does, but we will be calling her about Quinn's behaviour. Regardless of the provocation, I'm not too thrilled with her reaction."

Hiram turned his attention back to Santana. "But most importantly, we both want a promise from you that this will never happen again. No matter what happens, we're both only a phone call away. Neither of us will ever be too busy to come and help you if you need us."

Santana looked at both men gratefully. "Thanks, I really appreciate that." As she finished speaking, her phone beeped with a new text.

_- We need to talk – Quinn_

"Can I go now? I need to make a phone call." Santana looked pleadingly at both men.

"Of course, honey. Would you like me to make you some breakfast?" Leroy asked.

"Absolutely," Santana grinned before heading towards the living room. As soon as she left the kitchen, the smile slid off her face, and she dialled Quinn's number

"_Hello?"_

"Quinn? It's Santana. What did you want to talk about?"

"_You already know that. Me and you have a situation going on that needs to be dealt with, and I figured we should do it sooner rather than later."_

"Agreed. What do you have in mind?"

"_I usually go for a run once a day. You know, to keep in shape between practices. I was planning on going for one around the park around eleven-ish, if you want to join?"_

"That sounds good, I'll meet you by the skate park?"

"_Perfect, see you there."_

Santana didn't get the chance to respond before the other girl hung up. She went back into the kitchen for breakfast and told the two men where she was going. It was obvious they didn't particularly approve of Quinn after finding out she'd hit Santana, but they made no comment.

Santana went to Rachel's room and knocked on the door, entering after the diva called her in.

"Hey, Shrimp," Santana said, "are you still pissed about before?"

"I don't appreciate being ganged upon by you and my fathers, but I'm feeling much happier now."

"Good to know," Santana smiled. "Listen, I just got off the phone with Quinn, she wants me to meet her for a run today so we can talk, is that ok?" Santana new it would be, after all Rachel was the one pushing her to befriend the blonde, so she was surprised when Rachel frowned.

"That's very odd," she mused, "because I just got off the phone with Brittany, who wants to meet me for coffee at eleven."

Hearing this, Santana's eyes narrowed. "I knew she was up to something, when I see her I'm gonna kick her ass!"

Rachel just snorted. "Oh calm down, Tana, you don't even know she's done anything yet. This could just be coincidence." Seeing the look of disbelief on Santana's face, Rachel continued, "Ok, I know it isn't very likely, but even if this is co-ordinated, that doesn't automatically make it a bad thing. This is still a chance for you to get to know her."

Santana sighed. "You're not gonna be happy till the two of us are best buds, are you?"

She just shrugged and smiled. "I just can't believe that two people who are so alike can't stand each other. Whatever the motivation, Quinn has reached out to you, don't turn you back on this out of pure stubbornness."

"I won't," Santana replied grudgingly, "but I'm not just gonna assume the best. The first hint that she's trying to play me, and she'll wish she'd never been born."

* * *

Quinn stood in the park waiting for Santana to show up. She was unsure why she was there, Brittany talked her into it, the last thing she wanted to do was spend time with the Latina at the weekend. What was the problem anyway? She said she'd be more polite to her in school and try and work through her problems with her, why did they have to 'talk'? _Because you've been a colossal ass to her so far_ her brain told her.

Quinn looked up and saw Santana approaching from the far end of the park. She just had to get through this run and be civil, then she could go home and enjoy the rest of her Saturday. Except she knew she couldn't, Brittany wasn't going to stop making her try to fix this, _plus you want to fix this, Brittany is safe here, everyone loves her, you don't have to be a super bitch any more._ The blonde sighed. If only it was that simple. Everyone loved her at their last school until they found out she was a lesbian, then things went really bad. It was safest all around if Quinn made sure Brittany was at the top with her, then if things did go wrong no one would dare touch her. _And befriending Santana will help with that, she rules the school, instead of trying to steal that from her you could just work with her._

Before she could continue her internal conversation, Santana reached her. "Hey," she said, a little tentatively, "so you want to talk?"

"Not yet," Quinn shook her head, "after we run. It helps me to think."

Santana managed a small smile. "That's something we have in common then,"

Not saying another word, the two girls stretched out and then started their run. Not a word was spoken between them the whole time, but the competitive edge was still there, each trying to outpace the other. Quinn realised pretty quickly that she couldn't have had someone better to run with, she thought she could push herself just fine but realised she was getting more benefits from this than she ever got from running alone.

After they'd done a few circuits, they stopped for a breather. Quinn was panting much more than usual and Santana was in a similar condition.

"Ok Fabray, I'm not taking another step until we talk. Mostly because if we keep this up I'm not gonna be able to breathe, let alone talk." _She does look a little winded_ Quinn thought.

"Fine," she said, hitching on her best glare. "What do you want with Brittany?"

She could tell she'd come on too strong as soon as the words left her. Santana looked up in shock and her eyes narrowed at the blonde.

Quinn sighed and looked away. "Sorry. That sounded more subtle in my head," she said, looking back across at the Latina.

Santana's face softened slightly but she didn't lose her aggressive posture. "It's cool. After…everything…I guess you're still a little wary of me."

Quinn looked at her a little, then threw her arms in the air and growled. "I don't know how to do this," she admitted, "I'm not exactly known for playing nice." Santana was openly grinning at her. "What's wrong with you, why are you smiling?"

Still grinning Santana replied, "Because I think the other two were actually onto something when they said we're alike. That's almost the exact same thing I would've come out with a few years back."

"Well, you don't have a sister to protect, who could get beaten half to death if people find out about her," Quinn snapped. "I can't afford to let my guard down, not ever, yet not two days ago I was sat on your couch spilling my secrets to Berry."

Santana looked her in the eye then. "You need to realise you're not alone any more. I get it, I do, believe me. And the best thing about talking to me about it? I get it from both sides, yours and Brittanys." Santana started to stretch out again as she spoke. "I know Rachel's not my sister by blood, but she may as well be, and as much as I love her I know most of the idiots at school don't see her as worth much. But I have learned to trust a few, like Finn and Puck, and I know the rest of glee club would never hurt her even if she does annoy the shit out of them sometimes. And you already know how I get Brittany's experience," she admitted.

"How did you do it?" Quinn asked curiously. "Learn to trust people, I mean."

Santana openly laughed now. "She pretty much forced me. When we started at McKinley I used to follow her around all day and yell at anyone who looked at her cross-eyed. She got so annoyed with me, she threatened to get a restraining order.

Quinn laughed at that, "seriously?"

"I don't think she meant it, but you get the idea."

Quinn marvelled at how easy it was to talk to Santana. Maybe Brittany had been right to push her to do this after all, and she was starting to see the Latina's point. If she kept smothering her sister, eventually she'd get sick of it and push her away completely. She needed to learn to trust people to take care of her so she didn't have to be there all the time, and Santana and Rachel were as good a place as any to start. For some reason, even after everything that happened, she found herself wanting to trust both of them.

"I like her," Santana said quietly, interrupting Quinn from her thoughts.

"Who?" she asked confused.

"The tooth fairy," Santana snorted, "who do you think?"

"Oh," Quinn replied, then hesitated. "When you say 'like her' you mean, _really_ like her?"

Santana looked down and scuffed her feet like a child being scolded. "Yeah. I know how protective you are of her and after everything that happened you probably hate me."

Quinn ran her hand across her face and sighed. "I probably should. But I don't." She looked at the Latina, trying to judge her sincerity. "I'd say it's a pretty fair guess that she likes you too. But take it slow with her, ok? I know her well enough to know she'll want to jump in with both feet, and I'm guessing from the other night that might be a little much for you, so try and keep her relaxed."

Santana nodded, then frowned down at her pocket and took out her phone, obviously reading a text. "I've got a message from Shrimp," she said, showing it to Quinn.

_- If you have finished with your run, would you and Quinn care to join me and Brittany at Oscars for a coffee? - Rachel_

"She even writes messages in paragraphs," Quinn said, smirking.

"So, what do you think?" Santana said. "Should we head over when we're done?"

"I think I'm done now," Quinn admitted, "I was struggling a little towards the end there."

"Then lets head," Santana said, dropping her phone in her pocket.

* * *

They arrived at Oscars coffee house, and immediately spotted the two girls. Quinn walked over and automatically sat down next to Rachel instead of Brittany. Santana looked at her a little oddly, but kept her opinion to herself and took the empty seat opposite. After the waitress came and took their order, Rachel immediately started talking. "So, how was your run? I only ever use the elliptical myself, I'm not really an outdoorsy type of girl."

Quinn grinned at her and couldn't help but think how adorable she was. _Stop it Fabray_, her brain shouted. Luckily while she was grinning like an idiot, Santana replied for her.

"Yeah it was good. In fact on the walk over, we talked about making it a weekly thing."

Brittany smiled at her sister. "So you guys are getting along now? That's so cool!"

Quinn noticed the Latina grinning at her sister in much the same way she'd just been grinning at Rachel. _No, not the same way_ she told herself, _because you're not attracted to Rachel_.

After the coffees arrived the girls chatted about nothing much. The shorter blonde found herself relaxing in spite of herself. It was nice to be around other people and not be constantly on edge. She found herself growing to like Santana. When she was calm she was actually pretty intelligent and witty. She seemed to be having difficulty meeting Brittany's eye though, although her sister was clearly trying to get her attention.

After a little while Santana and Brittany both announced they needed the bathroom, leaving Rachel and Quinn alone. For some reason, this made the blonde nervous.

"So, how have you guys settled into Lima so far? I bet it's different to New York, huh?"

Quinn for some reason found it hard to look Rachel in the eyes. They were so open and honest, she was scared she'd lose herself in them. Or find herself.

"Yeah, it's pretty different. Everything's just at a different pace here, in New York everyone's always rushing to be somewhere."

"Do you miss it?"

Quinn sighed. "I miss our old house. I miss my sister sometimes. But I don't really miss anything else. After everything that happened, I didn't want to see anyone from my old school again, and my dad…well, let's just say we don't get on and leave it at that."

"Wait, you miss your sister?" Rachel looked confused. "I didn't know you had another."

"We don't talk much," Quinn supplied. "She's called Frannie. She's eight years older than B and me."

"Do you guys get on?"

"Most of the time," the blonde shrugged, "we just don't have much in common. You know, with the age gap and everything. She's a police officer back home, so I worry about her, but luckily so far no serious injuries," Quinn smiled, trying to lighten the mood. It had been a while since she thought about her other sister, she spent so much time focused on Brittany.

"Oh. So are you and Tana getting along now?"

Quinn smiled. "For the most part. I guess I misjudged her." Quinn decided to be honest with the diva. "She admitted that she really liked Brittany." Than she looked around, worried that the other two might be returning.

"Don't worry, Santana always takes forever in the bathroom," Rachel said noticing her discomfort. "And I know, she already told me. She's still buried in the closet though, so I think it's gonna be a while before she does anything about it," the diva sighed. "It might be nice if she could just let herself be happy for once.

"B deserves some happiness too," Quinn said, looking downcast as she realised this may take even longer than she thought.

"I know!" Rachel said really excitedly, making the blonde jump, "why don't we help them?"

"What exactly do you mean, 'help them'," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

Rachel looked at her, enthusiasm practically seeping out of her pores. "Well, if we leave it to those two, we could be waiting forever. Tana will jump in the closet and lock the door if Brittany comes on too strong, and Brittany might get impatient and start looking elsewhere, so why don't we promise each other to manage our girls, and keep them on track."

Quinn was desperately trying not to get swept along in her new friend's enthusiasm. "And how are we supposed to keep them on track? They're both pretty stubborn, so I don't think they'll appreciate outside interference."

"Then we'll be subtle about it," Rachel said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We'll meet up frequently, have progress reports and charts, you can tell me more about the kind of things Brittany likes and vice versa."

Quinn had winced at the word 'charts'. This sounded rather complicated. "We could just let them do this their own way, you know."

"Oh, please," Rachel snorted, "we'd be waiting forever if we did that."

"I don't know about this, Rachel,"

Rachel reached across to take Quinn's hand and finally caught her eyes. "Please," she said, giving her best begging look, making her eyes as big as possible and batting her eyelashes.

The blonde found every well thought out argument fly out of her head at that point. She couldn't seem to concentrate on anything but the big brown eyes in front of her, and rational thought had disappeared to be replaced by bluebirds and fluffy clouds.

With a herculean effort, she tore her gaze away, already knowing she wasn't going to refuse Rachel anything. "Fine. But if they find out about this, I'm blaming you."

"They won't find out, I'm a master of subtlety," she said, not missing the disbelieving look in Quinn's eyes, "ok maybe not, but I _am_ a good actress. We need a codename,"

Quinn started. "Ok, that one went by a little fast."

"Oh come on," Rachel said, bouncing in her seat. "In the movies, spies always have codenames."

"We not spies," Quinn pointed out, "we're just trying to help our friends."

"We're kind of spies," she said hopefully.

Quinn was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to win an argument again. "Fine, you overgrown kid. What do you suggest?"

Rachel sat in silence for a minute while she thought. "I know," she shouted, making everyone around her jump and glare in her direction, "how about the Dynamic Duo?"

"Sound good," the blonde responded immediately.

"You didn't even think about that," Rachel said, pouting.

"I didn't need to," Quinn teased, "it's such an amazing name I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself. The Dynamic Duo it is."

Rachel squealed and hugged her, just as Santana and Brittany returned from the bathroom. The Latina smirked at her friends, but Brittany saw the flustered look and blush on her sister's face and smiled a sad smile at her. As Rachel pulled away, Quinn was left to wonder why she wanted to push her off but simultaneously beg her to never let her go.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N Ok, this is a massively long chapter by my usual standards, but I couldn't think of any way to break it down, I hope you enjoy it cause it's the most tricky one I've written so far (hence me posting a day late)**

**Musicfutbolfan6 – Quinn is through the looking glass, she just needs a bit more of a push!**

**beaner008 – thankyou again for your kind words**

**Any and all reviews are definitely appreciated for this chapter, as I said there's a lot going on and it was tricky to write so I'd love to know how it reads.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Sat in glee rehearsal on Monday morning, Rachel couldn't help but glance guiltily up at Finn on the row above. He'd texted the previous day wanting to hang out, but she'd made up an excuse about spending quality time with her dads: really, she just needed a day to herself to think. Santana had spent the day with her mom and brother, so she'd had nothing to do _but_ think, and yet somehow she hadn't gotten anywhere. Her problem was that she was going to be spending a lot of time in the company of Quinn and while that was enjoyable in itself, it also caused her a lot of confusion. She'd been raised by two dads and her best friend was Santana, so she'd had some experience being around people attracted to the same sex, and she wasn't stupid, she knew what she felt for Quinn went beyond simple friendship, but she also knew she cared about Finn. He was sweet, caring, devoted and protected her like a good boyfriend should. As she watched him joking around with Mike and Puck she wondered why she felt so torn when her boyfriend was so great.

She turned back to the front as Mercedes and Sam were performing a duet that Mr Schuester potentially wanted to use for Sectionals. Sam had transferred to McKinley at the start of the year and was on the football team with Finn. In fact, it had been Finn who had discovered he could sing and persuaded him to join New Directions. He was blonde and handsome, but had an oddly proportioned mouth (that once prompted Puck to ask him how many tennis balls he could fit in it). Rachel hadn't had the chance to speak to him much, but from what she gathered he seemed like a decent, sweet guy. At least, that's what she thought until she noticed him paying more attention to Quinn than his duet partner. Every chance he got, he was trying to catch her eye, and Quinn had obviously noticed. What was worse was the way she was smiling at him. Rachel's eyes narrowed dangerously and she glanced at Mercedes, who seemed to be similarly riled. She was glaring at Quinn like she wanted her to burst into flames. _Stop staring at my Quinn!_ Rachel mentally projected to both of them, hoping her psychic powers would get the message across. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working.

As they finished up and headed back to their seats, Sam gave Quinn a smile as he walked past, which she returned. Rachel had a sudden barely controlled impulse to tackle him.

"Ok guys, that was great," Mr Schuester enthused, "that's a pretty strong contender for our duet for Sectionals. Remember, if the rest of you want to submit a duet to challenge for it, I need to hear it by the end of the week." He turned around picking up some submission papers off the piano, glanced down at them and looked up again, somewhat surprised. "Next up we have Santana, with a submission for the solo slot."

Rachel shot a look at her best friend as she got out of her seat and made her way to the front of the room. She hadn't told her anything about this. I mean she was her best friend and all, but it would have been nice if she'd told her she'd been auditioning for the solo slot.

"Ok everyone, I know you aren't used to this," Santana said, taking a seat on a stool with a guitar she'd borrowed from the band, "but I really wanted to sing this even if it doesn't make Sectionals. I spent most of yesterday practising with my brother, so I hope you like it."

With that, she settled herself down, started strumming away and burst into Fallin' For You by Colbie Caillat. Rachel was fairly sure no one but her noticed, but Santana's eyes kept darting to Brittany every now and then as she was singing. Apparently though, Quinn had noticed as well and was watching her sister's reaction. Brittany seemed to be completely caught up in the song and had a smile on her face, never once tearing her eyes from the Latina on stage. Quinn glanced across at Rachel with a knowing smirk on her face. As well as feeling the emotion of the song, Rachel was critiquing, and honestly could find little wrong. Santana never put herself forward for solos and avoided singing outside of glee even though it was clearly something she enjoyed, but the diva had to admit her friend had a beautiful voice, even if the song choice may not have matched it perfectly.

When she finished, everyone applauded and Santana returned to her seat with her head bowed almost shyly, while Brittany watched her all the way and gave her a hug when she sat down, making the Latina blush. Mr Schue then asked everyone to pair off with the person sat next to them to discuss ideas for the group performance which they would then feed back at the end of the lesson. Rachel found herself paired with Quinn, and immediately took the opportunity to talk to her about their plans from Saturday.

"So, what are we going to do about those two?" she said.

Quinn rolled her eyes at the diva. "From what I saw, we don't have to do anything. They're so into each other there's no way they can't act on it on their own."

"But we have to do something," Rachel whined, "I've spent a lot of time on Operation Brittana."

Quinn looked at her like she'd grown an extra head. "I'm sorry, Operation what?"

"I figured that was as good a name as any," Rachel sniffed. "Besides, just because Santana sang her a song doesn't mean she's ready to make a move. Believe me, I know her better than you, she won't cave that easily."

"I still think we're thinking about this too much," Quinn replied. "Even I know if we leave them to it, they'll eventually end up together."

"We can't afford that type of lax thinking," Rachel replied. "We formed the Dynamic Duo to make sure our friends and relatives in your case are happy, we can't just let it slide now."

"Fine," Quinn sighed, "what's the plan?"

"Well, I do have a few things written down," Rachel said, scanning her notes, "can you find an excuse to come around tonight without Brittany?"

Quinn glanced at her sister and thought of the interactions they'd had with Rachel and Santana up to that point. "It won't be easy, up to now we've only hung out because of Brittany." She thought for a minute, then snapped her fingers. "We have until the end of the week to come up with a duet idea for Sectionals, don't we? Why don't we tell them we're working on a duet?"

Rachel grinned and clapped her hands together. "That's a fantastic idea, Quinn! It lets us work together without either Brittany or Santana trying to interfere!"

At that, Mr Schue interrupted and asked all the pairs to present their ideas for the group performance. Rachel made up something off the top of her head that she forgot minutes later, after all what her and Quinn were doing was more important.

As they were leaving the choir room, Sam approached them. "Hey Quinn, I just realised I haven't introduced myself properly yet. I'm Sam, Sam Evans."

Quinn smiled graciously and took the hand he held out for her, "It's a pleasure, and I guess you already know my name. That was a great duet, by the way."

Rachel resisted the temptation to roll her eyes, as Sam responded, "Yeah, I do, and thanks. Listen can I ask you something? In private, I mean?" he said, looking to Rachel.

"It's fine," Rachel responded, as Quinn looked to her for assurance, "I'll just wait over here."

Rachel went to sit on the piano stool, and noticed Mercedes looking slightly crestfallen at Quinn and Sam in the hallway. Throwing manners out of the window, Rachel started to edge towards the door in an attempt to eavesdrop, until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to be faced with Finn.

"Hey stranger," he grinned, "what's up?"

"Hi Finn," she replied as enthusiastically as she could manage, giving the tall boy a hug, "I'm very well thank you."

He pulled out of the hug and smiled down at her. "So, are you free tonight? I feel like I hardly saw you last week, and then you were busy yesterday…" he tailed off, waiting for a response.

"Sorry Finn, me and Quinn are working on the duets project for glee tonight."

"Oh, ok," he said, trying hard to mask the look of disappointment on his face. Rachel noticed, however, and it increased her guilt tenfold.

"I'm free tomorrow though. Santana's trying to spend more time with her mom lately, so we'd have some alone time."

Finn perked up again at that. "That sounds great! And listen, I wasn't trying to be possessive or anything. I love how passionate you are about the clubs you're involved in, so you don't have much free time, I just miss you is all."

"I know, honey," she said hugging him again and surreptitiously glancing at Quinn, who was now alone and waiting for them in the doorway. "We'll have a great time tomorrow, I promise."

"Can't wait," he said, leaving for his next class, "and have fun tonight guys." With a nod at her and Quinn, he left. Rachel suddenly hated how complicated her life had gotten in the past week.

* * *

Santana got out of Rachel's car outside her mother's house and waved her friend off. She took a deep breath and headed to the front door, almost being bowled over by Rico, who was just coming out of the front door with his bags packed.

"Woah, sorry sis," he said, grabbing her arm for support as he nearly fell, "wasn't paying attention."

"It's alright, I'm just glad I caught you before you went," she replied, holding him steady.

"So how was school, did you get to sing the song we practised?" he asked, picking up his bag.

Santana grinned at him. "Yeah, and it went great. I always knew I was awesome."

"And modest," he laughed. He then got a sly look on his face. "So, was the guy you were singing it for impressed?"

Santana turned a little red and spluttered, "Who says I was singing it for someone."

"Oh please," he snorted, "you've been in that club for a little over a year now, not once in all that time have you attempted a solo, and all of a sudden you're asking me to teach you a song that as far as I know you wouldn't normally be caught dead listening to."

Santana looked guiltily down at her feet. "Ok fine, I was singing it for someone. But I don't wanna talk about it right now, I need to get in there and see mom. How about we Skype later in the week?"

"Sounds good. And mom's been better today than normal, she actually responded when I talked to her and she didn't seem to have drunk as much."

Santana sighed. "That's good. I hate it when she goes on the bottle solid all day."

"Sis," Rico said gently, "you know you can't do this forever right? I help out as much as I can, but I have my own life back in Cali and you do too."

"It wouldn't do any good," the Latina girl sighed, "she's tried rehab therapies before, they'll only take you on the programmes if you want to get better, and she doesn't. Leroy Berry's tried everything to get her help, but there's only so much he can do. And I'm sorry you have to come here so often, I'm trying to be around more."

Rico held his hands up to his baby sister. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that, baby girl. If you need me, I'm here alright? I just mean it's a lot for you to deal with on your own. Maybe the next time I come up, we'll try and talk to her together, make her see sense. Anyway," he said checking his watch, "I have to get moving or I'm gonna miss my flight. Take care. And don't forget to Skype with me like you promised, I wanna know about the new man in your life." He grinned and waved as he headed off, Santana forcing a smile back. _New man. Yeah right!_

Santana entered the house to find her mother sat on the couch, glass in hand staring into space. "Hi, Mama, how are you today?" Santana asked cautiously.

Her mother must shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. Santana sighed and walked past her up the stairs to the room that was now her bedroom in name only, she spent so little time in it. It had basic furniture, no posters or photos on the walls and just looked generally unlived in. Leaving her school bag in there, she went to her mother's bedroom, taking in how untidy it looked. She picked up the clothes scattered everywhere and put them in the laundry basket in the hall, getting some in the washing machine. She then went back to the room, remade the bed, polished everywhere and vacuumed the entire first floor.

After she was done upstairs, she came downstairs and started making dinner for them both. Once she finished up she put the dirty dishes in the sink to wash before she left, and took the food to the living room, knowing she'd never be able to persuade her mother to leave the couch. It took a while, but she eventually persuaded her to eat the simple stir fry she'd cooked. As soon as she was finished, Santana cleared the plates, washed the dishes and returned to the living room, sitting back down on the couch.

This was the period Santana needed Rachel or her brother there for. As long as she kept herself busy she could convince herself everything was fine, but as soon as the chores were done and it was just her and her mother, the reality of her situation would hit her. She never seemed to know what to say and unless directly addressed, Maria remained silent. For some reason, a random childhood memory popped into her head and she decided to share it.

"Do you remember that day when I was seven and we went to the park?" Santana asked. Her mother continued to stare into space as if she couldn't hear, so Santana moved closer to her and leaned her head against her side. "Rachel came too. This boy pushed her off the swing, so I ran up and punched him on the nose. Not hard or anything, just enough to make him back off. You came over to tell me not to punch but the boy and his mom started shouting and swearing at me and Rachel. She was crying and I was starting to get upset as well and you just barged in, hands on hips and told them to back off. You must've been scared, this woman was huge and you were no bigger than me, but you stood your ground until they left.

"I didn't appreciate it at the time but looking back now I think that's one of the moments that made me who I am. I know you struggled with dad and you were scared, but you just had these moments where it seemed like nothing and no one could touch you. Subconsciously, I always wanted to grow up to be like that, knowing even if I was facing off against one, ten or a hundred people, I wouldn't budge if I was protecting the people I cared about." By this point Santana was almost in tears and if she'd looked up at Maria's face, she would have noticed her welling up too. "I guess I'm trying to say I miss that version of you, more than any other. The one who stood up for her daughter in the playground, who called the police on Emilio, who was willing to testify against him even though she was terrified."

Santana was openly crying now. "I guess I just want – no, I _need_ – you back, Mama. Cause I'm going through some stuff right now and I miss having you to talk to. I miss you kissing me goodnight and telling me it'll be ok." She heard a car horn outside and looked out of the window to see Hiram waiting for her in the car.

"I have to go now, Mama," she said, wiping her eyes. "I'll be back tomorrow after school." She ran upstairs to get her bag from where she'd left it, came back down and kissed Maria on the cheek. "Bye, Mama," she said, opening the front door and exiting the house.

If Santana had looked through the window after she closed the door, she would have seen Maria break down in tears.

* * *

Quinn knocked on Rachel's door, waiting patiently for her to answer. Her mother and Brittany had both bought the duet ruse without any problems, making her feel a little guilty for lying to them. She hated to do it, but knew how determined Rachel was with her plans, so she figured the sooner they talked it out, the better. _Plus, you get to spend time alone with Rachel_ she thought, then immediately tried to shrug that notion off. No, she was just here to work on the plan.

Leroy Berry opened the door and ushered Quinn inside, taking her coat and force-feeding her cookies and a glass of juice before letting her go up to Rachel's room. The blonde's eyes nearly started out of her sockets when she got inside.

Normally the tiny diva could best be described as a neat freak (although she'd prefer the word fastidious) but now her room looked like a paper factory had exploded in it. There were sheets covering every available surface, including the bed and Rachel was stood in the centre of it all like some kind of crazed puppet master.

"Rachel, what in the…what…how…what are you doing?!"

"Oh hi Quinn," Rachel replied distractedly, "come on in."

The blonde ran a hand across her face, silently counting to five. This looked like it was going to be a long night. "I can't 'come on in' if I do I'll stand on something!"

Rachel frowned at her, then looked around. Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my goodness, look at this mess!" she exclaimed, picking up seemingly random sheets of paper and trying to move in five different directions at once.

Quinn couldn't help but chuckle as the shorter girl dived all over her room trying to make an avenue for the blonde to walk through. _She's so adorable_ she thought, then once again tried to silence her brain. "What is all this, anyway?"

"Draft ideas for Operation Brittana of course," she said, still collecting paper. "Most of them are useless, but I actually had some pretty good ideas. I think I've managed to find the keepers," she finished, putting a stack on the desk.

"Here, let me help you tidy the rest," Quinn said, and started gathering the unused ideas. She glanced at a few of them but didn't really read them. Most of them looked like essays, and there was the occasional indecipherable sketch.

Once they had everything tidied away again, Rachel went over to the desk and brought the stack of notes over to the bed where Quinn had made herself comfortable.

"So what's the grand plan?" the blonde asked curiously as Rachel riffled through her notes, eventually finding the sheet she was looking for with a noise of satisfaction and handing it to Quinn. She looked down at the document she'd been handed and resisted the urge to facepalm. It appeared to be a resume, but instead of a job application it appeared to be details about Santana, included where she grew up, her favourite movie, book and food and other general likes and dislikes.

"I want you to read that, memorise it, then destroy it," Rachel stated matter-of-factly as she went through her notes again, clearly looking for another sheet. Quinn started to feel something akin to fear at this point and wondered if Rachel had a set of disguises, a Polaroid camera and night vison goggles hidden somewhere in her room. She found the second piece of paper she was looking for and handed this one to Quinn as well. It was identical to the one she'd just been given except it had Brittany's name at the top and the headed columns had been left blank. "I'm going to need you to fill this one in and get it back to me as soon as possible."

Quinn held her hands up in surrender. "Fine. But don't you think you're going about this the wrong way?"

"How so?" Rachel asked, looking up from her notes and eyeing Quinn curiously.

The blonde took a breath and held Rachel's gaze. "You can't force people together, Rach. Ultimately if Brittany and Santana end up together, it's going to be because they want to be together. I know Santana sang that song today and we both know who it was for, but she's still dealing with some issues about her sexuality. If we meddle too much now and put pressure on her it might make her back away more."

Rachel looked stricken, so Quinn backpedalled slightly to make her feel better. "That doesn't mean we need to give up on the plan all together, but instead of throwing them at each other, we could just give them a gentle nudge. That way we'll still be able to use your notes, just in a different way."

"Well, what ideas to do you have then?" Rachel asked slightly appeased but not completely happy.

Quinn thought for a second. "Ok, well I'm guessing one of your plans would be to trick them both into being somewhere at the same time, then abandoning them with each other?" Rachel narrowed her eyes, but nodded in confirmation. "Well how about to take the pressure off, all four of us organise to go to these places, be honest with them about who's going to be there, and then if those two start getting on me and you make excuses and leave? That way we're still using your plan, but they won't feel like we're lying to them or forcing them into something."

Rachel smiled genuinely at last. "How do you do this, Quinn?"

"Do what?" Quinn asked, genuinely confused.

"Calm me down. I have a reputation for sometimes taking things to extremes and no one has ever been able to stop me before I go too far, but you just seem to get it."

Quinn could feel her cheeks going red and looked away from her new friend to try and hide it. "I don't know. It was a good idea it was just a little…too much. It didn't really take much effort to tone it back a little so the basic idea's still in place."

"Will you still fill in the fact sheet?" Rachel asked anxiously.

Quinn rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "I guess so."

Rachel laughed and threw a cushion at her. "You dork," she said, before heading to the bathroom.

With their 'Operation Brittana' plans begun, the two girls spent the rest of the night discussing duet ideas (they figured they needed to after telling everyone what they were working on) and doing their homework, only coming downstairs briefly to eat with Leroy, then heading straight back up again.

As they were finishing their work, Quinn heard her phone beep, and checked her messages.

_- So how does Breadstix sound tomorrow night? I'll pick you up around 7.30, if you still wanna go. – Sam_

"Looks like I have a date for tomorrow night," Quinn told Rachel rather sheepishly.

"Oh," Rachel said, and Quinn couldn't help but notice she looked a little dejected as she packed her school things away. "Who with?" she asked, not quite managing to keep the edge out of her voice.

"Sam Evans. You know from glee."

"That's nice," Rachel said, forcing a smile. "He seems like a decent guy."

"Yeah." Quinn couldn't help but notice how dejected Rachel looked and blurted, "I don't have to go if you don't want me to. You know, if you planned to work on this duet thing or the operation or something," she finished lamely, secretly hoping Rachel would give her an excuse not to go.

"No, of course not," Rachel shook her head vigorously, "I would never keep you from having a social life, I hope you have fun, really," she said, giving Quinn a genuine smile this time. "Besides, me and Finn are going to spend some time together tomorrow evening anyway. We haven't seen each other much lately."

"Oh, ok," Quinn replied, managing to mask her disappointment better than Rachel had. She took out her phone and texted Sam back

_- 7.30 sounds great, I'll see you then. Or more likely in school tomorrow - Quinn_

After this conversation they sat next to each other at the head of Rachel's bed, talking about school and listening to Rachel's iPod, which she'd set to shuffle. Quinn somehow found herself with Rachel's head on her shoulder. She couldn't for the life of her remember how it came to be there and had no desire to ask the brunette to remove it. When Video Games by Lana Del Ray started playing, the blonde perked up. "I absolutely love her,"

"So do I," Rachel enthused. "I mean she doesn't have perfect pitch and tone so normally I wouldn't be interested, but you can feel the emotion in everything she sings."

The two girls continued to sit together listening, before Quinn realised she was humming along. Then Rachel started singing the chorus '_It's you it's you it's all for you, everything I do. I tell you all the time, heaven is a place on Earth with you, tell me all the things you wanna do, I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true?'_ Quinn joined in, and Rachel switched to a harmony to accompany her.

By the time the song finished Rachel's head was no longer on Quinn's shoulder and the two girls were looking at each other as they stopped singing. Quinn found that she couldn't tear her eyes away, and Rachel appeared to be in a similar condition. All of a sudden her skin felt on fire, yet her brain felt like ice, she couldn't process any kind of rational thought. It took her a moment to realise that she seemed to be drifting closer to Rachel who was likewise moving forwards ever so slowly, almost as if they were both in a trance. The only thing her brain seemed to be able to latch onto was the scent of strawberries, then as Rachel's eyes started to drift close hers followed suit and she could feel Rachel's breath less than an inch from her own mouth…

Both girls jumped a foot in the air as they heard the front door close and voices from downstairs. Quinn started gasping for air, almost as if she hadn't been breathing, and looked across to see Rachel looking a little wild around the eyes, red-faced and completely flustered.

"Uh…I…err…ah…" _Well done Fabray, you pride yourself on your English skills and that's the best you can come up with?_

"Well, it sounds like my dad and Santana are home," Rachel managed to squeak out after thirty seconds of total silence.

"Sure does," Quinn responded cheerfully, mentally kicking herself for saying something so inane. "I should probably go anyway, if I don't leave soon I'm gonna be late."

"Well I'll see you out," Rachel said leaping off the bed.

They passed Santana on the stairs, who looked worn out, prompting Rachel to stop and show concern.

"I'm fine Shrimp just tired, am gonna turn in early. Later Fabray," she said, continuing up the stairs as Rachel looked after her, them turned and walked Quinn to the door.

"So," the blonde said when Rachel led them both outside, "I guess I'll see you in glee tomorrow?"

"Yeah, it should be good, Finn texted before you came over and told me him and Puck were working on a duet tonight and they're performing tomorrow."

Quinn chuckled. "Ok you know that means we have to work on ours twice as hard now? I refuse to be beaten by that sleaze Puckerman."

"Definitely," Rachel said, joining the laughter. Her face turned a little wistful then. "Bye Quinn,"

"Bye Rachel, sweet dreams." Quinn didn't know what possessed her to say that, but seeing the way Rachel's face lit up she didn't regret it.

The blonde didn't remember the drive back, she didn't remember what she talked to her mother and sister about when she got in, she didn't remember showering and changing into her pyjamas, she didn't remember climbing into bed. In fact the only things she remembered clearly from the whole night were almost kissing Rachel in her room and standing on the Berry's doorstep with Rachel's arms around her, the girl standing on tiptoes to kiss her on the cheek and whisper in her ear, "Sweet dreams to you too".

Funnily enough, Quinn slept very well that night, and did have sweet dreams.

* * *

**If you get the chance I would recommend looking up the songs mentioned in this chapter if you don't know them.**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N Thanks for the reviews, just a couple of replies to get through**

**- mistressamy – I said it would be Faberry and Brittana relationship, and Faberrittana friendship, sorry if that wasn't clear. I know some authors do it, but that would be way too confusing for me!**

**- twisted-wisdom – don't apologise, I understand people have real lives away from fanfic, I'm just glad you're still along for the ride **

**Anyone who wants to leave me feedback in review form is very welcome, criticism is as welcome as praise after all you can't improve without it, didn't get as much from the last chapter as hoped but I love writing this so much it's gonna keep going regardless **

**This chapter's been edited considerably, it was starting to get out of hand, some of it has gone into the next chapter including some more Brittana interaction, the Finchel half of the evening and the explanation for events at the end of this chap. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**Chapter 14**

As Quinn drove home from Cheerios practice the following day, she tried to focus on something, _anything_, that would distract her from her memories of the night before and her dreams. _Oh God, the dreams!_ Quinn had had boyfriends before, been on dates, kissed and fooled around a little without ever giving herself up completely, but no one had ever affected her quite like Rachel Barbra Berry. To say she'd never felt anything for her exes would be a lie, but compared to the raw want – no, _need_ – she felt around Rachel, nothing she felt for any of them even came close.

What might have made things easier would have been if she could talk to the object of her desire, but she was inexplicably unavailable all day. Where Quinn would usually see her in the corridors between classes or at least in the cafeteria at lunch she had vanished. Quinn had even texted her to see if she could talk but received no response. In fact, the only time she saw her all day was in glee. The blonde had made sure her in Brittany had got there early but when Rachel entered, instead of taking her usual seat next to Santana, she took Puck's normal seat next to Finn, took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. At that point Quinn wished she had super powers so she could make Finn burst into flames for the happy smile on his face.

Of course, it was obvious even to Quinn by this point that she had it bad for Rachel. It was knocking her for six because she'd never had feelings this strong before and to have them for another girl was terrifying. She was starting to empathise with Santana more and more by the second. If this was how it made her feel, how did she get through every day without beating the crap out of someone, or at least screaming until she was hoarse? Of course until recently, Santana hadn't had strong feelings for someone either so that might explain it.

She entered the kitchen and heard voices coming from the kitchen and tried to sneak upstairs, she didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

"Quinn honey, is that you?" The blonde sighed and turned around in time to see Judy exit the kitchen and look up at her from the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi mom, sorry I'm a little late, I went for a drive around the neighbourhood. I needed to clear my head after practice, it was pretty gruelling."

"That's fine," her mother responded with a small smile, "it's not like you missed your curfew or anything, I just wanted to see you."

Quinn shuffled her feet a little and tried not to look guilty. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Judy responded smirking at her, "can't a mother just want to see her daughter when she gets home from school?"

Quinn sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Brittany told you about my date didn't she?"

"Actually no. Santana did."

Quinn's head shot up. "Santana?"

Judy smiled. "Yes dear, she's in the kitchen with your sister. She's such a charming girl, and Brittany seems to adore her."

Quinn was racking her brains to see if she could ever remember anyone describing Santana as 'charming' before, when her phone buzzed with a new text. Grabbing her phone from her bag eagerly, she was disappointed to see it was Sam.

_- Hey Quinn, just making sure we're still on for tonight? – Sam_

"Was that him?" Judy said, bouncing on her heels acting more like an over-excited teenager than either of her younger daughters (which is saying something considering one of them is Brittany).

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yes mother. Now if it's alright with you, can I reply."

"Of course. Tell him to get here early, I want to meet this young man."

"Absolutely not," Quinn said, trying not to laugh, "I remember how badly you traumatised the last date I had."

"Santana doesn't mind spending time with me," her mother pouted.

"Santana isn't Brittany's girlfriend," Quinn pointed out, "and I'm sure if they ever do end up dating, you'll terrify her just like you did with Paul."

"That wasn't my fault," Judy sniffed haughtily, putting on the high society face she only used for special occasions these days, "he was an idiot. Imagine trying to grab your girlfriend's…behind in front of her mother."

"Ok, you've got me there, he definitely deserved it," Quinn laughed, "but Sam isn't like that. At least he doesn't seem to be."

"So why can't I meet him?"

Quinn rolled her eyes yet again, thinking if she kept this up her irises would become permanently lodged in the back of her skull. "Because of all the other dates I had who were perfect gentlemen that you drilled into the ground. If it works out you'll meet him, I swear, but not tonight."

"Fine," Judy exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, "be ashamed of your old mother."

"Thanks mom," Quinn winked cheekily, escaping to her room, firing off a reply to Sam as she went.

_- Absolutely, I'll see you at 7.30. You owe me one by the way, I just rescued you from a grilling from my mother. - Quinn_

_- Then I guess I'll have to be on top form to make it up to you ;) – Sam_

Quinn sighed and dropped her phone on the bed. If only she could be excited about this date. If only she wanted to see Sam as much as she wanted to see Rachel. If only she wanted him to kiss her and hold her like Rachel did in her dreams. She shook her head and started going through her wardrobe to find something to wear.

* * *

Rachel was getting a little bored of the almost permanent feeling of guilt she was experiencing lately. It had settled into the pit of her stomach and seemed almost like a wild animal, growling at her when she dodged Quinn in the corridors and at lunch, when she sat with Finn in glee but couldn't take her eyes off the blonde when Finn and Puck got up to do their duet, when she couldn't get the other girl out of her head when she hugged or kissed her boyfriend, when the only thing she'd been able to focus on all day was the smell of her breath as their faces moved closer together…

The diva almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a knock at the door, pulling her out of her reverie. She was relieved when she heard one of her dads moving to answer it, as it gave her a few moments to try and catch her breath and reduce the flush in her cheeks. She'd just about gotten herself together when Finn entered the living room, giving her a genuine smile when he saw her. Hiram followed him in.

"Hey, Rach," he said, scooping her up for a hug and a chaste kiss, bearing in mind the presence of her father.

"It's good to see you Finn," Hiram interjected, smiling himself. "Will you be staying for dinner?"

"Actually, I was thinking of taking Rachel out. If that's alright with you, of course," he added hastily.

Hiram just chuckled at the tall boy. "Of course it is, son. Just make sure you have her home by nine, it is a school night after all."

"Nine?" Rachel whined.

"Yes young lady, nine," he said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't know about your daddy, but I don't want to deal with a grumpy, tired diva in the morning."

"Fine," she sighed, then furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, I thought I was grounded?"

"Shoot, I forgot about that," he said, and Rachel facepalmed, "I was supposed to call Mrs Fabray as well about Quinn."

"Please don't do that, daddy," Rachel pleaded, "she's already apologised to Tana, and she's forgiven her, can't you just let it drop?"

"Fine," he huffed, "I'll let it go provided she never does anything like that again. I won't tolerate violence of any kind under this roof. And I presume you already have something planned for tonight, Finn?"

"Yes sir," Finn replied.

"Well I guess I can't deny you some fun, but this is the only night this week I'll let you out. And I want you home by eight, not nine."

"Are you kidding me?" Rachel screeched stamping her foot.

"It's ok Rach," Finn soothed, rubbing her arm, "we can be back by eight, no problem," he said addressing Hiram.

"Thank you Finn," Hiram said. "Well I'd better let you kids go and start making dinner. If I know your daddy, and I think I do, he'll be starving when he gets home."

"Ok, and thank you for letting me out tonight dad," Rachel said, giving her father a tight hug.

"No problem, sweetie," he said, kissing her forehead, now go have fun."

* * *

Santana had found herself walking Brittany home after school. Quinn had been acting strange all day, and seemed particularly tough on everyone during Cheerios practice, earning yet another approving eyebrow raise from Coach, a tic that the shorter blonde seemed to be adopting. After practice she had asked the Latina to make sure her sister got home ok, she needed to clear her head.

She hadn't been the only one acting strange either. Rachel was hugely distracted, zoning out frequently whenever Santana tried to speak to her, and leaping at Finn whenever she saw him. As much as she liked the tall boy, the Latina was becoming freaked out by her behaviour. Rachel normally wasn't a fan of public displays of affection, but seemed to be going out of her way to let everyone know she was with Finn. But considering she seemed to be completely enamoured with him, she barely listened to him during glee, and spent the entirety of his duet burning a hole in the back of Quinn's head. If the blonde hadn't been resolutely staring at the floor and Finn hadn't been so caught up in his performance, there was no doubt in Santana's mind they would have noticed.

The Latina mentally shrugged. Whatever was going on with the two of them was none of her business. If Rachel chose to speak to her about it, Santana would of course listen and help in any way she could, but she had enough problems of her own without voluntarily getting involved in someone else's. Speaking of which, one of those problems was sat in front of her in the Fabray's kitchen, nibbling her lower lip as she did her Math homework and looking absolutely adorable.

She bent her head over her own homework and tried to concentrate, which wasn't easy with the gorgeous blonde opposite her and Judy Fabray bustling in and out of the kitchen, smirking knowingly at the two girls. As much as Santana appreciated the support, the constant scrutiny was starting to become irritating.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Brittany asked, apropos of nothing.

"What? No, of course not! Why, has someone been calling you stupid?" she asked fiercely.

"A few people last week when they thought I wasn't listening, but not since Quinn became head cheerleader and I joined the Cheerios."

"Well then they obviously don't know you, because you're definitely not stupid," Santana stated firmly, looking Brittany straight in the eyes.

"Thanks, San," she smiled, "I'm just worried I'll fail the test Ms Pilsbury set up for me and it'll tell them I'm stupid."

Santana couldn't help but smile at the other girl's innocence. "It's not that kind of test Britt, you don't pass or fail, it just tells them where you're at and how much help you need."

"But what if I don't need help? What if I don't have dyslexia?"

"Then you still won't be stupid," Santana said gently, "lot's of people struggle with spelling and they're out in the world, at college or in good jobs. Besides, from what you've told me it sure as hell sounds like you do."

Brittany smiled as they heard someone descending the stairs, and Quinn entered the kitchen.

"Hey Fabray, you scrub up alright," Santana said, staring. Quinn was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans with a form fitting t shirt that showed off her toned stomach, long blonde hair loose and over her shoulder rather than up in a tight pony tail as usual.

"Thanks Lopez, I think. And please stop leering at me," she smirked.

"You wish, Ice Queen," the Latina snorted.

"You look nice Q," Brittany beamed, getting up and giving her sister a hug.

Quinn leaned into the embrace and rested her head against the taller girl's shoulder. "Thanks B."

Brittany pulled back and looked her sister straight in the eye. Quinn tried to hold her gaze, but looked away nervously after a few seconds. "Are you sure you want to go on this date? You know you don't have to."

Santana noticed Quinn's eyes become defensive. "Of course I do, why wouldn't I? Sam's a decent, sweet, handsome guy, any girl would be lucky to go on a date with him."

"That still doesn't mean you have to go," Brittany said quietly, still trying to catch her sister's eye. "You don't have to do what's expected of you any more."

They all heard the knock at the door. "I'm not having this discussion with you Brittany," she said with a hard edge to her voice, pulling away from her sister's arms, "he asked me, I said yes, I'm going. End of story." With that she left the kitchen and headed out the door.

Brittany returned to her seat at the kitchen table looking downcast.

"What was that about?" Santana asked carefully.

Brittany met her eyes, and Santana thought she'd never seen the other girl look so defeated. "She's spent almost her whole life doing the things she thinks other people want her to do. Our dad put a lot of expectations on her when we were growing up and he was pretty harsh with her if he decided she'd let him down in some way. He was strict with all of us, me, mom and Frannie included but especially with Quinn, he wanted her to be his little clone or something. Since then she's never really tried to do things to make herself happy, everything she does is to please everyone else."

Santana looked confused. "Why does she think going out with someone she's not even interested in would be expected of her? Your mom doesn't seem like she'd care."

"She wouldn't," Brittany shook her head, "but it's not that simple. Both our parents are from rich, 'society' families. Dad spent years convincing Quinn certain things would be expected of her when she grew up. She's supposed to be a cheerleader, she's supposed to date a footballer in high school, she's supposed to go to an Ivy League college, meet a guy from a society family, marry him have kids and take care of him and the kids until they're old and grey." Santana shuddered at the idea of having her own life dictated to her by someone else, especially a life that sounded so empty and superficial. She once again thanked her lucky stars she knew Rachel, who had shown her that there was more to her than the bitchy cheerleader everyone saw at school.

"Can't she get away from that now that her dad's not around? She hasn't talked about him much, but I get the impression she doesn't really care for him."

Brittany sighed. "It's not that simple. She was told from being a little girl up to around three years ago what her life was supposed to be and that if she didn't achieve it, she was a disappointment. It's gonna take time before she realises that doesn't have to be her life any more."

Judy, who Santana realised had been listening to most of this conversation from the door, had tears in her eyes. "How did I raise such a smart girl?" she asked, giving her daughter a hug.

"So, what do we do?" Santana queried, averting her eyes from the mother-daughter moment.

"We constantly remind her that her father was wrong," Judy replied, "something I should have started doing when she was a little girl. The rest is up to her, I think she needs a little more time. Something seems to have changed in her the last few weeks." Judy smiled. "There's obviously something in Lima that agrees with her. She's been calmer than I've ever seen her since Friday night, and last night she came home with the biggest smile on her face, she's never smiled like that before."

Brittany gave Santana a look over her mother's shoulder and in that instant she knew the blonde had already worked out what she'd been guessing at for a few days. Quinn wanted this date, she just wished in was a short brunette she was on it with instead of a tall blonde footballer.

* * *

Quinn met Sam at the door, and they greeted each other politely, if a little formally. He escorted her to his car and opened the passenger door for her, helping her into the car before jumping in the driver side and setting off for Breadstix.

Sam was a gentleman all evening, holding open doors and pulling out chairs. He charming and polite to the waitress who served them, letting Quinn order for herself unlike some guys she'd gone out with who just assumed she'd want what they were having. She quickly realised he was a closet geek like her, and they spent the night deciding whether the Return of the King movie was better than Avatar, which was their favourite Harry Potter novel and who their favourite Final Fantasy villain was. He was funny, geeky, charming, sweet, intelligent and handsome.

It was at this point that Quinn admitted to herself that she definitely wasn't attracted to men anymore. I mean, Sam was virtually perfect for her and she still felt nothing. It hit her so suddenly that she felt herself welling up over her ice cream from the stress of it all.

"Quinn, are you ok?" Sam said, concern in his eyes.

"No," she said, starting to cry in earnest. _What the Hell is wrong with you Fabray? Get it together, you never show weakness! Crying in public is unacceptable!_ "I'm sorry, Sam," she said out loud, "but I shouldn't be here."

"Why not," he asked, confused, "I thought we were having a good time."

"We were," she said, choking on a sob, "but I'm just not attracted to you."

He frowned at her and she could tell he was disappointed, although he was hiding it well. "I can't say that's the ideal response to get on a date, but it's hardly something to cry about. I mean, so you don't like me, we can still finish the meal and have fun as friends, right?"

She smiled at him, finally getting herself under control. "Really?"

"Of course," he said, "I like you Quinn and if I just get friendship, then I'll take it."

"Thank you Sam, you're really sweet," she said, wiping her eyes with a tissue from her bag.

He looked at her mock seriously then. "Just so I know, what was wrong? I mean I'd hate to think I strike out so much because I'm an obnoxious creep."

She laughed then and took his hand. "You're definitely not that. It's just, things with me are a little…complicated right now."

Sam ran his hand through his hair. "Oh, I get it. You like someone else, right?"

She looked up at him sharply. "What makes you say that?"

He shrugged. "Just a hunch. You seemed really distracted at school today and whenever I saw you in the corridors or by the lockers, it seemed like you were looking for someone. If I'm wrong I apologise, I don't like to presume anything."

Quinn smiled at him again to put him at his ease. "Don't apologise," she sighed, "as it happens, you're right."

He frowned for a moment, then his eyes widened suddenly and looked at her in shock. _Uh oh,_ she thought.

"Oh, oh, oh, I think I know who it is! It's Rach-"

"SShhh!" she hissed frantically.

He stopped stammering and stared at her. "So I'm right? It is her?"

He shoulders slumped and she felt the tears coming again. "Uh huh."

"Wow. So I really didn't do anything wrong, huh?" he said. Quinn looked up and he was smiling at her again.

"Wait, so – this doesn't bother you?"

"Why would it?" he shrugged. "It's not really any of my business, right? And it doesn't hurt me in any way."

"You are so amazing," Quinn said successfully swallowing the tears and grinning at him, then got a puzzled expression on her face. "Wait, how did you work this out? Does everyone know?" she asked, sounding panicked now.

He smiled and gripped her hands again. "Breathe, Quinn, breathe! No one knows, I just worked it out. You said you liked someone else and my mind wandered to school to work out who it was. Not intentionally," he hastened to add, "but sometimes my brain goes places of its own accord. I realised the only people I'd ever seen you genuinely happy and relaxed around we're Brittany and Rachel, and I thought I caught you looking at Finn like you wanted to rip his head off in glee today when she sat with him instead of you guys."

"Oh crap, oh crap, everyone's gonna know!"

"Quinn! Chill! I only noticed cause I just really analysed it, no one else would believe if you came into the choir room, pushed her against the wall and kissed her face off." Sam said, still smiling calmly and holding her hands.

"Really?" she said, gasping for breath.

"Really. Well, I bet Brittany and Santana will work it out eventually, they're both really close to you guys," he said, taking his hands back now Quinn seemed to be calming down.

She laughed. "You have no idea. I wouldn't be surprised if they already knew."

Sam laughed in return, then looked serious for a minute. "Listen Quinn, Finn's a really nice guy and he worships Rachel, so don't screw him around, ok? If you have to tell her how you feel, do it, but don't start messing with her head, or getting involved in her relationship, ok?"

Quinn tried to swallow the guilt she suddenly felt. After all, hadn't she already messed with Rachel's head by almost kissing her? Admittedly, Rachel was clearly as into it as she was, but there's no way Quinn should be trying to kiss a girl with a boyfriend. A snide voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like her father was telling her she shouldn't want to kiss a girl at all, that she should suppress her feelings and find herself a good boyfriend.

"I promise," she said, and meant it. Sam was right, she didn't want to mess the other girl up or hurt Finn.

With that, they finished their (almost melted) desserts, and Sam insisted on paying the bill. He held the door open for her once more and let her into his car. They sat there for a minute or two not talking.

"It's gonna be ok you know?" Sam finally said breaking the silence. "Even if everyone finds out. No one's gonna mess with you, the glee club will all back you up, and me and the guys will handle anyone who gives you any shit."

"You are the best," she said reaching across and hugging him, just as another car flew past them in the car park at breakneck speed.

"Wow, someone's in a hurry," Sam joked but Quinn just frowned. She thought she recognised that car.

Sam drove her home, hugged her again before she got out of the car and waited until she was safely through the door before he drove off, and Quinn went upstairs to take a shower and get dressed for bed. She was much calmer than she had been all day knowing that she now had an unexpected ally. As she lay in bed later her thoughts switched to the car from Breadstix. _There's no way,_ she thought, _how could Rachel possibly have been there?_ On that thought, she went to sleep.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: You understand why I split this now? This was all supposed to go in the last chapter, and it's huge!**

**Thank you so much for all the reviews, the response was overwhelming, everyone who sent a review got a personal reply so check your inboxes, if I'd put them all here like I usually do it'd be like an essay on it's own!**

**A/N 2: The events of this chapter take place at the same time as Quinn's date in the last chapter. I know I promised some Faberry but this just got too huge and it'll be in the next chapter. I sneaked a few cute Brittana moments in instead to try and make up for it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Finn had been unusually quiet on the drive from Rachel's house. He was normally full of conversation about his day, football practice and glee, or asking the diva about her day, but today he seemed somewhat distracted. It was starting to unnerve her, not that she was averse to starting a conversation herself at all, but when she did attempt to engage him he was rather monosyllabic, which really wasn't like him.

He pulled up the truck he borrowed from his stepdad Burt Hummel for the evening in the car park by the lake, and helped Rachel out of the car, walking her to a secluded spot where a blanket was laid out. He asked her to sit, then went back to the car to fetch whatever he had in the trunk. As it turns out it was a picnic basket and when he opened it, Rachel gasped at the boy's thoughtfulness. It had a bunch of roses resting on top, and underneath was full to overflowing with all of her favourite foods, including dips and jams that looked like they'd been home made.

"What is all this?" she asked, leaping into a hug.

"I just wanted this to be special," he shrugged as he hugged her back. "I brought some candles as well but I guess we're not gonna need them, with me getting you home by eight."

"This is amazing, thank you," she said shyly, not quite able to look him in the eye. Unbeknownst to Finn, all of this effort was just serving to make Rachel feel that little bit more guilty about the previous night's events. How could she possibly have let herself almost kiss Quinn when her boyfriend was so wonderful? _But Quinn is wonderful too. And why have you never fully committed to this relationship if Finn is so wonderful?_

Rachel quieted her inner voice, settled herself against Finn's side on the blanket and allowed him to set out the spread. They both tucked in energetically, especially the tall boy as he'd had a particularly vigorous training session that day.

"So, Sam told me he's going out with Quinn tonight, huh?" he asked innocently. "You think they'll hit it off?"

Rachel nearly dropped the cracker she was holding, but masked her clumsiness well. "I couldn't possibly say. I mean, I haven't talked to Sam much since he moved here and Quinn's pretty closed off most of the time."

"Well, Sam was way excited at practice," he enthused, "I hope it goes well for him. I mean, he tries to hide it but he lets his geeky side out every now and then, so I hope Quinn's not expecting him to be super-jock like Karofsky or something."

Rachel snorted. "Please, Quinn would never be into a knuckle dragger like David Karofsky. She'd be into someone more intelligent and sweet."

"Great," Finn said beaming, "sounds like Sam would be pretty good for her then."

Rachel inwardly groaned. She was secretly hoping Sam would be rude and arrogant like most of the rest of the team but if what little Finn told her was true, Quinn would probably love him. She didn't want to say it to her boyfriend, but the diva occasionally caught glimpses of her friend's geeky side as well. She was already mentally picturing her running off with Sam to go to college, get married and have babies. Admittedly she was probably getting a little carried away, but the thought of it was making her feel like she'd been punched in the stomach. Especially when her brain showed her images of adorable little blonde babies.

Rachel took a few deep breaths, then continued eating. Luckily Finn was back in his silent phase from earlier so he didn't notice his girlfriend's mini freak out.

After they finished eating, they lay on the blanket together and looked up at the stars. Rachel didn't mind the silence at first as it gave her time to get her emotions in check, however eventually it started to unnerve her. Finn never went this long without kissing her or asking how she was, and for that matter the diva wasn't exactly known for her silence either.

Eventually it became too much for her to bear. "Finn, are you alright?"

"Yeah," he answered a little too quickly, "I'm fine." He looked across at her, then sighed. "Actually there's something I need to ask you, and I need you to give me a totally honest answer."

Rachel stomach dropped, the guilty feeling kicked in yet again like it had been doing for days now, and she had to fight to keep her voice level. "Of course, you can ask me anything."

Finn looked more serious than she'd ever seen him. "We've been dating since the start of the summer. That's around three months now. I need you to know that I really like you. I mean I've dated before but I've never felt this with anyone before. I love how passionate you are about everything, how you never back down when you know you're right but are always the first to apologise when you're wrong, I love your loyalty to your friends and how willing you are to fight for them. I guess what I'm trying to say, not very well, is that I love you." Rachel's heart shot into her throat and she knew what was coming next. "I know we've never really talked about us beyond just dating, but I want us to be more serious." He took her hands then and looked into her eyes with such sincerity she started to well up. "Rachel, I want you to officially be my girlfriend."

Rachel started struggling to breathe, she was gasping for air, and all her treacherous brain would let her think of was Quinn on her date with Sam. She started to seriously hyperventilate now, and Finn swung into action, emptying out one of the paper bags from the picnic and passing it to her to help her regulate her breathing. "Rachel, breathe into the bag," he said urgently, "follow my breaths in, out, in, out," he said soothingly. Eventually Rachel got her breathing under control and looked at Finn who for all his calm words had gone red and looked terrified. "If nothing else, at least I can say I made you breathless," he quipped nervously.

Rachel couldn't help but smile then, if a little weakly. She carried on breathing into the bag even though she didn't really need to any more, it bought her some time to think. One part of her head was saying _Quinn's out on a date with Sam, who sounds perfect for her. She went even though you almost kissed, so what's the harm in becoming Finn's girlfriend, it's not like she'd care._ But then the other side of her brain kicked in. _Finn's a sweet guy, but that almost kiss with Quinn was better and more intense than any kiss you've ever had with him. You owe it to him not to lead him on_.

Finally she pulled the bag away from her face and looked at the earnest face of the boy she'd been thinking of as her boyfriend since they got together. She never said it out loud but they dated, and didn't see other people so as far as she was concerned that's what he was. Now that he wanted to make it official though, she was hesitating. What's worse, she was hesitating over something that may or may not come to fruition and in the light of tonight's events probably never would.

Rachel knew that if she said no to Finn it had to be because she didn't want him, not because she wanted Quinn which she was no longer afraid to admit (to herself at least) that she did. And in that moment she realised she didn't want him. He was sweet, kind, honest and attentive, but he never really challenged her. When she saw herself in the future, she was always with someone who would push her to be better in every aspect of her life, and she just couldn't picture the boy in front of her in that role.

"I'm sorry Finn," she said, "but I'm not ready for this." His face fell, and Rachel honestly didn't think she'd ever felt worse.

"So what are you saying," he said, obviously fighting back tears, "do you want to carry on as we are? Cause I can do that if that's what you want." He was almost pleading with her.

She shook her head and started crying herself. "No, Finn. That wouldn't be fair, on either of us. I can't ever be serious with you. I'm so sorry," she said, and the trickle of tears became a flood.

She sat there for a little while, shaking and sobbing. Eventually, she felt a pair of big strong arms wrap around her and pull her close, and felt tears landing on her forehead. They sat like that for a while both crying and holding each other like the world was ending. For one of them at least, it felt like it might be.

Eventually they both got their sobs under control, and Finn pulled away and handed her a napkin to dry her eyes on. They both sat silently for a while longer staring at nothing in particular, then the tall boy got up, and started calmly and carefully getting the remnants of the picnic back into the basket, picked it up along with the blanket and put it back in his car. He did leave the bunch of roses in front of Rachel however. She picked them up and stared at them.

"You can keep them if you want," he said awkwardly from behind her, the first words he'd spoken since she broke his heart, "if it's too weird I can take them home."

"No, I'll keep them if that's ok," she replied, turning around and looking up at him. He looked broken.

"Well, I guess I'd better get you home so you don't miss your curfew," he said, leaning over to help her up. She went round to the passenger side of the truck and let herself in. A few seconds later he climbed into the driver's side and started driving her home. When they got there, they both sat for a moment without speaking.

"Do you hate me," Rachel finally said in a tiny voice.

Finn was gripping the steering wheel with both hands and didn't look across at her, but he responded, "No. But I am angry at the situation. And I can't pretend I'm not hurt just to make you feel better."

"In the circumstances, it's more than I deserve," she replied, looking at her knees.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Rachel," he said finally looking across, "I asked you to be honest with me and you were. I don't think you're telling me everything though," Rachel cringed slightly at that, "but I guess I don't need to know all the details."

"I really care about you Finn," she started, but Finn waved her into silence.

"Don't ask me if we can still be friends," he said in a hard voice she rarely heard on him, "you need to give me some time. And space," he said pointedly. "I know you like to fix things, but you can't fix this. I need to get through it myself."

"Ok," she said awkwardly. "Well, I guess I'd better go, it's almost eight." She got out of the car and headed towards the door.

"Rachel," he called her back and she stopped and turned back to the car, "whoever it is, make sure they care about you before you give them your heart." Without another word, he drove off.

* * *

Santana and Brittany sat in the Fabray's kitchen finishing up their homework. Judy had made them dinner which they'd both wolfed down gratefully after the extra strenuous Cheerios practice they'd had that day. The Latina finished up before the blonde and started to pack away her things and Brittany, distracted, looked up. She was, as always, almost overwhelmed by how pretty the other girl was. At that moment, she wished it was appropriate to kiss her but restrained herself admirably. Then she remembered what she'd been intending to talk to her about all evening.

"So, Quinn was acting really weird in school today," she hedged.

"Oh yeah?" Santana shrugged noncommittally.

"Yeah. She kept drifting off when I tried to talk to her, she barely listened in class. I ended up taking notes for her for a change. And then in Cheerios she seemed really aggressive," she shrugged, "well, more than usual anyway."

While she'd been talking Santana had finished up her packing and looked at her. "That's weird. Rachel was the same all day, it's like every time I tried to speak to her, her head was somewhere else."

That was what Brittany had been waiting for. "I think there's something going on with them."

"Like what?" Santana asked warily. The blonde girl already knew the Latina knew what she was talking about, but didn't want to give anything away. _She's so protective,_ she thought to herself, swooning slightly.

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed, I know you watch Rachel as closely as I watch Quinn," she said, smiling.

Santana sighed and looked away. "Ok, fine, I _may_ have seen something between them. But Rachel's with Finn and he's a good guy, so I'm not encouraging anything."

Brittany loved how protective Santana was of Rachel, she was such a sweetheart. _If only she could show it all the time,_ the blonde thought. "I wasn't expecting you to," she said out loud, "but if either of them does something stupid, she's gonna need your support."

"And she'll have it, no question," Santana responded, waving her hand airily. Then she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "You didn't start this conversation just to talk about something we both know, did you?" Brittany looked down guiltily. "All right, spill," the Latina said, folding her arms and eyeballing the top of Brittany's head.

"I may have found a piece of paper that fell out of Quinn's bag when she came home last night," Brittany confessed. "She seemed pretty out of it, like she barely knew where she was. She had some papers in her hand and one of them slipped onto the floor, she didn't even notice. When I picked it up it had our names on top. Mine and yours I mean," she clarified. She looked up to see Santana narrow her eyes and nod at her to continue. "Anyway, it was like some kind of list places I like to hang out on one side, and the other side I guess was places you do. It was in Rachel's handwriting. I think they have some kind of plan to get us together."

"That devious…I can't believe…why would she…?" Santana spluttered as she lost her temper, going red and waving her arms in the air.

"Santana," she said cautiously, interrupting her rambling, "I think we should go along with it."

The brunette stopped what she was doing and went silent, staring at Brittany like she'd gone insane. "What?" she said in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Hear me out," Brittany said, putting her hands up. "We both know those two have feelings for each other, doing this will make them spend more time together."

"I already told you I'm not going to help them together," Santana said warningly.

"I didn't mean it like that," Brittany said, mentally slapping herself, "I just meant if they spend more time together, it may help them sort out their feelings. I'm not suggesting we push them together," she said, seeing from the expression on Santana's face she still didn't understand. "Look, they'll both be feeling really confused right now. They're not gonna feel less confused if they avoid each other, they need to talk it out. If we pretend we don't know what they're doing, we can all hang out together, and they'll be able to sort out what they feel without it being just the two of them alone."

Santana blew out a puff of air. "Ok fine. But if this goes badly, I'm blaming you," she said, smiling slightly at the blonde.

Brittany squealed in happiness and threw herself into Santana's arms. Luckily the brunette was used to the blonde's habit of random hugs, so she had time to steady herself before she hit. For her part, Brittany felt like she could stay in Santana's arms forever quite cheerfully.

* * *

Rachel was in her room, pacing. She was good at pacing. She'd had a lot of practice in the past week, mostly because she didn't know what to do or where to put herself. She'd gone to her room almost as soon as she got in only stopping when her daddy asked her what was wrong. She told him she didn't want to talk about it but really she did, just not with either of her fathers.

The two texts she'd received hadn't helped either.

_- Hey Shrimp, I'm gonna stay at my moms tonight, hope you're date was ok – Santana_

The other one had actually come through as she left school, but she didn't get it till she got home from her date.

_- Hey Rach, how are you, feel like I haven't seen you all day? I know last night was a little weird, text me if you want to talk. – Quinn_

Both messages had completely thrown her. She wanted Santana to be home so she could talk to her about Finn and Quinn, but she knew she needed to spend time with her mom and Rachel didn't begrudge her that. She hadn't replied cause she knew if she did, Santana would dash to the Berry's when she should be with her mother.

However, Rachel's stomach had dropped when she read the message from Quinn. She'd avoided her all day because she didn't want to talk to her, but now realised that probably wouldn't be possible. She also wanted to talk to her about what happened with Finn.

Who had turned out to be much more perceptive than she had ever imagined.

Rachel sighed. Regardless of her situation now, it didn't make it any more likely that she'd have a happy ending with Quinn. After all she was out on a date tonight, and she probably only wanted to talk to her to tell her last night had been a mistake. _Of course you won't know until you speak to her_.

The diva had tried to sleep once, but hadn't been able to settle. She felt like she was trying to crawl out of her skin, she just wanted to start this day over. She wouldn't have avoided the blonde at school, she would have talked to her, told her it shouldn't have happened for Finn's sake, but that she didn't regret it regardless. And now she was pacing.

Rachel suddenly stopped her pacing and made a decision. She wasn't going to be able to rest until she spoke to Quinn and she knew where Quinn was. She knew from experience that the other girl's curfew on weeknights was ten, so she was probably still at Breadstix. She could sneak out, drive there, and wait in the car park for her to leave so she could speak to her. It was a good plan, a great plan in fact. After she spoke to her, she might be able to sleep. Quinn had told her she could talk if she wanted to, granted she had said to text her not show up outside the restaurant she was having her date in, but still. _I'm sure she'll love that you stalked her just to talk about something that could wait until tomorrow just so you could get to sleep._

Ignoring her inner voice Rachel snuck out of her room, thanking her lucky stars that her fathers had an early start and had already gone to bed. She crept downstairs, grabbing her car keys off the side and opening and closing the front door in as close to silence as she could manage.

On the drive to Breadstix, she thought about what she intended to say. Now that she was on the way she realised that this was completely crazy. However, she'd already started with this plan, and she'd be damned if she didn't see it through.

Pulling into the car park and turning off the engine, she looked up just in time to see Quinn and Sam leaving the restaurant. _Right, here goes_, she thought, reaching for the car door. As she was about to exit the car, she saw Sam take Quinn's hand and whisper something in her ear, making her laugh. She froze. This wasn't part of the plan.

She watched immobilised as they walked happily to Sam's car, he of course held open the passenger door for her before he got in the driver's side. She sat for a minute, waiting for them to drive off, but they didn't move. _They must be talking_, she thought. She started the engine intending to drive off before they noticed her, feeling as shattered as she did when she broke up with Finn earlier and just as likely to cry. As she was about to pull out she looked up in time to see Sam and Quinn lean towards each other. Her brain suddenly cut out and she saw red, slamming her foot on the accelerator much harder than she intended shooting out of the car park. About half a mile down the road she pulled over knowing if she carried on she'd either cause or be in an accident. It was then she let the tears fall.

Eventually she got herself together and drove home, sneaking back in and entering her room, closing the door behind her and leaning against it. _What did you expect,_ she thought, _Finn hinted they'd be great together. Sam's charming, popular and handsome, everything you're not, you don't get bullied as bad as some because of Santana and glee club tolerate you because of your talent. Why would you ever think Quinn would want you? It was a moment of madness and confusion for her, that's all._

Rachel dressed in her pyjamas and crawled into bed. As good as she slept the previous night was as bad as she slept tonight.

* * *

Brittany and Santana pulled up outside the brunette's house. The blonde had insisted on driving her after Santana said she could walk. "It's fine I'll take you in Quinn's car." Now they were sat outside the house, neither of them moving.

"I didn't know you could drive," Santana finally said, releasing her grip on the side of her seat.

"I haven't for a while. I don't think mom likes me driving."

"I wonder why," Santana muttered, flexing her hands after the death grip she'd had on the seat. It wasn't Brittany wasn't safe, she was just _fast_.

"Do you not drive?" Brittany asked, stalling for time. She could tell Santana was trying to put off entering her house.

"The Berry's offered to pay for my lessons, but I said no. I already feel like they've given me enough."

"That makes sense," the blonde shrugged.

Santana sat, struggling with her thoughts. She finally asked, "Would you maybe wanna come in with me? I can make you a cup of coffee, help you stay awake on the drive back."

"Of course," Brittany replied easily, smiling.

They both exited the car and headed up to the front door, just as Mr Harris from next door was exiting. Mr Harris was the one Maria had run to the night she called the police and got Emilio arrested. Ever since then he'd watched over the house whenever he had a spare moment. Santana didn't know much about his past but knew he was in his early fifties, owned his own real estate business and was a widower. She'd given him a key for when either her or Rico couldn't be there, he had insisted, and other than the two Lopez children he was the only one who would sit and talk with her even without a response.

"Hello dear," he said when he saw he approaching, looking at her over the top of his reading glasses, book in hand.

"Hey Mr H," she replied with a smile, "what did you read her today?"

"Moby Dick, it's one of her favourites," he said enthusiastically. "She always looks up when I read that one, and she doesn't reach for a drink as much."

Santana smiled sadly knowing he was just humouring her. She barely listened when he read to her, but he still kept it up. "That's great, Mr H."

"And who's this beautiful lady," he said, bowing slightly to Brittany who giggled.

"A seventeen year old high school student," Santana smirked at him, winking.

"In that case little San, I think you're pretty lucky," he said, winking at the stunned Latina. "I'd better go, my dogs won't feed themselves," he said as he walked away, "have fun girls."

"Later," Santana called after him. She opened the front door and led Brittany into the house.

Her mother was sat on the couch in more or less the same position as last night. "Hey, mama," she said, "how's you're day been?"

No response. Santana sighed and turned to the blonde. "The kitchen's through here, you wanna come with?"

"It's ok I'll wait out here," she replied, putting a hand on Santana's arm.

"Well, make yourself comfortable," she said, removing her hand and walking to the kitchen.

She made the coffee as quickly as she could, not wanting to leave Brittany alone with her mother. She re-entered the living room with two mugs and nearly dropped them. The blonde was sat on the couch with her arm around her mother, her head resting on top of Marias.

"What's going on?" Santana said softly, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"She just looked so sad, so I thought she might like a hug," Brittany responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Santana couldn't think what to say to that so sat in the armchair opposite sliding the blonde's mug across the coffee table to her. They sat and drank mostly in silence, and the brunette thought her mother looked slightly more content than usual, she was relaxing against her friend and her posture seemed less rigid. Once they finished their coffee Brittany extricated herself and stood. "I really should be going, my mom will worry if I'm not back soon."

"That's ok, I should get some sleep, I'll see you out."

As she opened the door for Brittany, the taller girl turned around, leaned forward and gently kissed Santana on the cheek. "If you ever need me, I'm a phone call away," she said quietly placing her hand in the Latina's cheek where she'd just kissed it.

"Thank you," Santana breathed, "you have no idea how much that means to me." She smirked then, trying to regain her composure. "And for the love of God, drive safe."

Brittany removed her hand and winked, "Of course."

Santana watched the other girl drive off thinking how most of her life had changed for the better in the last few days, and how much of that she had to thank the blonde for. It then hit her like a ton of bricks that she hadn't told the Berry's where she'd be tonight, and felt guilty for not seeing Rachel as much recently. She fired off a text, then headed back to the living room.

"I'm gonna stay here tonight, ok mom? I'm going to bed, do you want some help getting upstairs?" Without waiting for a reply, Santana took her mother's arm, lifted her off the couch and guided her up the stairs, helped her change for bed and went to leave her in her room. "Night, mom," she said and turned to leave.

"It wasn't your fault." Santana froze at her mother's voice and turned around. She'd moved to sit on the bed, and was looking at her daughter, _really_ looking at her for the first time in years. Her voice was slightly slurred, but it was clear. "I never thought it was your fault, and I'm so sorry for saying it was. It was always mine and your fathers, I'm so sorry," she said again, her eyes tearing up.

Santana broke down and sank to the floor. She dragged herself to her mother and rested her head in her lap, sobbing. Her mother's arms came around her and held her there, humming a lullaby to her through her own tears.

Santana got control of herself and stood, dashing the tears away with her hand and regaining a hard look in her eyes. She walked to her mother's bedroom door, and turned before she left. "I never wanted you to be sorry. I wanted you to be better," she said, and shut the bedroom door behind her.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Thanks once again for the reviews, follows and favourites, am so happy people seem to be enjoying my little story. Once again everyone who reviewed will have a PM, so check your inboxes my little elves!**

**A/N 2: Am very sorry to everyone following but unfortunately RL has reared it's ugly head and it's looking like I won't be able to update as swiftly this week, probably not until Friday. I'll do my best to get something up sooner but unfortunately it's not looking promising atm.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Santana woke the next morning to the alarm on her phone, and buried her face back into her pillow with a groan. Santana Lopez was not now, nor had she ever been, a morning person. As she picked up her phone to knock the alarm off she noticed she had a text.

_- Hey Tana, sorry I didn't text you back last night but I had some things going on that I needed to deal with on my own, and I didn't want to disrupt your time with your mother. Do you need a ride to school today? – Rachel_

_- Mornin Shrimp, yeah I could use a ride – Santana_

_- K, I'll pick you up in half an hour – Rachel_

Half an hour? Santana looked at the time and couldn't believe Rachel was setting out so early. Launching herself out of bed, she started throwing things into her school bag, ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth and clean up a little, and sprinted downstairs to make breakfast. She'd just finished wolfing down her toast and coffee when she heard a car horn from outside. _She's early. Of course she's early she's Rachel freakin' Berry!_

Santana got her stuff together and ran out of the front door, throwing herself in the passenger side of Rachel's car. "Morning, Shrimp," she grinned, "you trying to beat the crowds or something?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel sniffed, "I merely like being punctual."

Santana laughed. "There's being punctual, and there's getting to school before the teachers. What's got you moving so fast today?"

Rachel pulled out and headed to school. "I have some extra work I need to catch up on, I didn't really get much done yesterday, and the library is open an hour before lessons start so I thought I'd take advantage."

Santana looked across at Rachel for the first time that morning and was shocked by what she saw. Rachel was someone who always took care of herself so seeing her eyes looking puffy, red-rimmed and with bags under them, and seeing her skin look so sallow had the Latina worried to say the least. "What the Hell happened to you? You look like shit!" she exclaimed, letting herself answer before her brain fully engaged.

Rachel smiled weakly. "I can always count on you for brutal honesty, Tana," she replied.

"Cut the crap," Santana said frowning, "what's going on with you?"

The shorter girl sighed. "I just had a bad night's sleep, ok?"

"Bullshit," Santana snapped, "I could set my watch by your sleep patterns. If you didn't sleep well that means something happened, and I wanna know what."

"You don't have to know every last little thing that happens in my life, Santana," Rachel said, getting worked up, "I had a bad night, that's all you need to know for now. I've had hardly any sleep and really don't have the patience or energy for this argument, if you still want to talk we can do it later."

Santana sighed and rubbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry. You're right I shouldn't have pushed, I had a pretty stressful night myself so I know how that goes."

"It's ok, I know you're just worried about me," Rachel smiled, pretty weakly though Santana thought. As they pulled into a parking space at school and the shorter girl killed the engine she sat immobilised staring at her knees. Santana waited patiently, knowing Rachel wanted to tell her something. "I can't go into everything that happened last night right now because there's just so much," Rachel said at last, "but there is one thing you should probably know before we start school today.

"Lay it on me." Santana sat back comfortably in her chair and waited.

"Myself and Finn are no longer an item," Rachel said quickly.

Santana's jaw hit the floor. Of all the things that Rachel could have told her, that one was bottom of the list. Scratch that, it wouldn't even make the list. While they'd only been together a few months, Finn and Rachel as a couple were almost like furniture at McKinley, everyone saw them and just assumed they were incredibly happy. _Myself included_, Santana thought. She'd always seemed happy with him and yet…the Latina frowned to herself. Now that she thought about it, Rachel had always seemed reluctant about hugging or kissing Finn in public, yet never had any sort of problem with other people's PDA. And she wouldn't swear it under oath or anything but the last time she saw them kiss, there'd been a hint of a flinch in the eyes from Rachel just before their lips connected.

"How did it happen?" she asked sympathetically.

"Later, Tana," Rachel said, looking pleadingly at the Latina, "I'll tell you everything tonight. Are you ok to come round?"

"I'll have to give Mr H a call and make sure he can check in on Mama, but it shouldn't be a problem," Santana replied, "besides, I feel like I've neglected you the last few days."

"Don't ever think that, Tana," Rachel said with a smile, "you've been there for me more than anyone. Besides I had so much to do the last few days."

"Yeah I've been crazy busy too," she replied, then smiled, "I had a good time at the Fabray's yesterday before I went to my mom's though."

"Oh yeah?" Rachel asked faux casually, "what were you doing?"

"Just homework with Britt," she replied still smiling. She chanced a glance across at Rachel, who was doing her best to look unconcerned, but Santana knew her friend too well, the wheels were definitely turning.

"Ok," Rachel said casually. "Hey I'd better get moving or coming in early was pretty pointless. Are you coming with?"

"Nah, I'm gonna head to the choir room, I've got something I wanna work on for Glee." They both exited the car and entered the building, waving their goodbyes outside the choir room while Rachel carried on to the library.

Santana opened the door and entered, and was shocked to find she wasn't alone. Finn was sat on the piano bench, randomly hitting keys. It looked like he hadn't heard her enter, so Santana figured she could turn around and quietly exit and he'd be none the wiser. Something stopped her however, and instead she walked to the piano bench and sat down next to the tall boy, making him jump.

"Hey Tana, you scared the crap out of me," he said once he managed to regulate his breathing, "what brings you here so early?"

"Rachel dropped me off, she had some stuff to do in the library." At the mention of Rachel's name, Finn's head dropped.

"Did she tell you what happened yesterday?"

Santana thought carefully about her response. She figured Rachel wouldn't mind her telling Finn what she knew, or she wouldn't have said anything. "She said you guys broke up, but not much else."

"Yeah," he said, "it really sucks. She said I didn't do anything wrong, but I've just been sat here analysing everything for about fifteen minutes. Do you think I was a bad boyfriend?" He looked over at the Latina and seemed to be almost pleading with her.

"Not from what I could see," Santana tried to keep her answer as neutral as possible, she really didn't want to get caught in the middle of this. "Listen sometimes things just don't work out, there's not always anything you can do about it, or one thing you can change to make it all better."

"I know. I just really love her," he said, and he sounded so broken and small Santana had to put her arm around him.

"I know, Finn. It sucks right now, but you won't feel like this forever."

"That doesn't really help me, Tana," he said a little bitterly, shrugging her arm off.

She looked at him and shrugged. "Nope, it probably doesn't. But there's not really anything else I can say."

Finn managed to lift his head to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, I know you were just trying to make me feel better."

"It's ok, I think you're allowed to be a little moody right now." She looked away then and glanced around the room trying to think of something to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, her mind drew a blank.

"I'm gonna go sit on the bleachers by the football field for a while," Finn said eventually.

"Want me to come with?" she asked, already knowing what the response would be.

"Nah it's ok, I wanna be alone for a while."

She let him go and started mimicking Finn's previous action, hitting random keys. Her life had been going so much better lately, and the brief conversation she'd had with her mother the night before made her think that situation wasn't as hopeless as it had once seemed. _Just when things are looking up for me, everyone else's life goes to shit,_ she sighed.

* * *

Quinn was marching towards the library, brimful of confidence. _Today is a new day_, she thought, _I'll speak to Rachel, we'll sort out whatever our…thing is, and the world will go back to normal_. She had already planned to corner the brunette at lunch and confess her feelings, willing to take whatever Rachel threw at her in response. Therefore, she was knocked for six when she entered the library and saw Rachel working away at a spare table. _It's ok Fabray, this won't disrupt the plan, just hide behind one of the stacks before she looks up and sneak out after she leaves. _"Quinn?" _Crap_. The blonde decided she needed to walk while she had these inner monologues.

"Hey Rachel," she said, smiling weakly. The diva didn't return the smile, instead she looked slightly panicked and haunted.

"What are you doing here so early?" Rachel asked somewhat shortly.

"I need to check some books out for some research," she responded, looking at the other girl curiously, "how about you?"

"Finishing homework. Hey, how did your date go last night?" Quinn couldn't be sure but she thought she detected a snide tone to Rachel's voice.

"It was ok," she replied slowly, "are you alright?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Rachel said, breaking eye contact and looking back down at her work.

"Well, I don't want to disturb you," the blonde said, "so I'll just get my books and go."

"It's fine don't rush off on my account," the brunette replied sniffily.

"I wasn't rushing off I just didn't want to disturb you, it looks like you have a lot to do," Quinn said, then asked, "will you be free at all around lunch time?"

"Possibly, why?"

Quinn looked down and started scuffing her feet. "I just thought we should talk about what…almost happened on Monday night. I kinda feel like you've been avoiding me since then."

Rachel looked up from her work again and fixed Quinn with a steely look. "I don't really see how there's much to talk about. We almost kissed, then the following evening I broke up with my boyfriend while you went and had a lovely time with Sam."

The blonde's jaw dropped. "Rachel, I'm so sorry. Was it because-"

"Because we nearly kissed?" Rachel snorted. "Don't flatter yourself."

"Ok fine," Quinn replied, trying to keep a grip on herself, "I'm still sorry though, even though you obviously think I'm not."

"You have no idea what I think or feel right now," Rachel snapped.

"All the more reason for us to talk about this," Quinn said throwing her hands in the air.

"Why would you even want to," Rachel sneered, "you've got yourself the footballer boyfriend, you're Head Cheerleader, you're untouchable, why don't you just pretend nothing happened, I know that's what you want to do."

By this point the librarian had come over and was hovering in the background, unsure of what to do as there was no one else in the library to disturb. Quinn gave up and moved towards the door, turning around to address Rachel just before she left.

"For the record, I said my date was ok because Sam's a really nice guy and we decided to be _friends,_" she said, emphasising the last word, "and I wanted to talk to you about the other night because it confused me, and I know it confused you too. I know you just broke up with Finn and you're hurting right now, but what happened really messed me up and I hoped you'd understand that," Quinn was almost in tears now. She took a breath, then added, "When you're ready to be mature, come and find me," then turned on her heel and walked out.

* * *

Rachel felt terrible for the first half of her day. _There I go again, jumping to conclusions and hurting someone I care about_. It was lunchtime, and she was sat in the cafeteria at the glee table, occasionally glancing across at Quinn who was sat with the cheerleaders for a change. The brunette had to quickly glance away whenever she saw the other girl look up, desperate not to make eye contact after her atrocious behaviour in the library, but couldn't help but notice how sad the blonde looked, even when she was laughing along to some joke or other.

"You know, her shirt won't pop open just because you keep staring," Santana said tactlessly in her ear.

Rachel jumped. She'd completely forgotten the other girl was there. "You're disgusting, Tana," she stated primly, "I only broke up with my boyfriend yesterday, I'm not shameless enough to…ogle anyone so soon."

"Whatever," Santana snorted, "you were practically trying to eye-fuck her."

"Santana Maria Lopez, you stop that right now!" Rachel struggled to keep her voice quiet so the other gleeks wouldn't overhear. There wasn't too much danger of that, as the rest of the table were currently in a heated discussion over the group performance for Sectionals, which was now only a month away. It never failed to annoy Rachel how much Mr Schue didn't seem to care about deadlines. She knew their rivals would already have a set list and would be drilling relentlessly, but he would always assert that they were better when loose. For loose, read grossly underprepared.

"Fine," the Latina rolled her eyes, "but something tells me you've got some stuff you need to say to her."

"No kidding," Rachel muttered to herself, then spoke loudly enough for Santana to hear. "She came to talk to me in the library this morning after you left about some pretty important stuff, but I completely misunderstood the situation and got angry at her, and nearly made her cry."

"You nearly made the Ice Queen cry?" Santana fake gasped, "impossible!"

"She's not an Ice Queen," Rachel asserted, stamping her foot under the table. She sighed and glanced over again looking forlorn. "I just don't know how to approach her.

Santana looked off into space for a minute, then snapped her fingers. "I may have a plan to get you to speak to her alone. I take you'll be waiting for me to finish Cheerios practice tonight?" she asked.

"Of course, you need a ride to my place, why?"

"Well, I could hold Quinn up after practice to talk about routines and keep her there till everyone else leaves, while you go and wait by your car. I'll get her to walk out to the car park with me and then pretend I've left something in the locker room, leaving her alone and you free to pounce."

Rachel smiled. "Apart from the pouncing, that's not a bad plan."

After that, they were both dragged into the conversation with the rest of the team. As they left the cafeteria for glee practice, Santana whispered to her, "don't forget, be ready by your car."

* * *

Quinn was getting seriously annoyed with Santana. She'd kept her behind after practice to run over the new routines for the State Championships with a fine-toothed comb, analysing particular moves over and over again. By the time they headed to the lockers, the blonde just wanted to go home. She'd had a terrible day, she was tired and grumpy and needed a hot chocolate and some well deserved sleep. _In other words, exactly how most people over the age of sixty spend their evenings_. Sometimes her brain just couldn't resist getting in a sly dig.

Once they reached the car park, Santana ran back to get a towel and make sure Brittany was ok, the other blonde had stayed in the gym to work on some choreography while they talked. Quinn decided it was unnecessary to wait for her. She started towards her car, and sensed someone following her, obviously trying not to be noticed. She whipped a can of mace out of her bag and spun round, just stopping herself before she blinded Rachel.

"Jesus Rach, what the Hell are you doing, you almost gave me a heart attack!" she gasped, clutching at her chest.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you," Rachel said, looking genuinely concerned.

"Then don't sneak up on me!" Quinn snapped, the morning's conversation coming back to her.

"Quinn, can we talk?" the brunette asked shyly.

The blonde was about to retort sarcastically, but saw the look of genuine regret in Rachel's eyes. "Fine, let's sit in my car." She opened the passenger door for the other girl and hopped in the driver's side. She looked across to see Rachel smiling to herself. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Nothing really, it's just all my deep conversations at the moment seem to happen in cars."

They both sat silently for a while looking at nothing.

"Santana should be back by now," Quinn finally said, "she only went back in for a towel."

"Actually, she's waiting in the gym for me to text her that we've finished talking," Rachel responded in a small voice."

"Do you plan everything?" Quinn asked incredulously.

"Most important things," Rachel said smiling again, "but I can't take credit for this, it was Tana's idea."

"Wait, did you tell her -"

"I only told her I needed to talk to you in private," Rachel interrupted. "And apologise," she added. "I'm so sorry about this morning, I was out of line."

Quinn saw how remorseful the other girl looked, and thought how bad she must be feeling about her break up. "It's ok, don't worry about it," she said, resting her hand on the other girl's arm.

Rachel seemed to be struggling with herself a little, then finally said, "I have a confession to make."

"You were at Breadstix last night, weren't you?"

Quinn saw the look of shock and guilt cross Rachel's face. "You saw me?"

"I saw your car as you drove off. What were you doing there?" Surprisingly Quinn didn't feel angry, just slightly curious.

"I'm so sorry," Rachel gushed, "I wanted to talk to you, but I saw you leave with Sam, and you looked so happy, and -"

"Woah Rachel, slow down," Quinn smiled gently, "it's ok."

"Really?" Rachel looked confused. "I thought you'd think it was creepy."

Quinn shrugged playfully. "Maybe a little. But I understand, I really do. What you did probably wasn't the best plan, but I appreciate the sentiment."

Rachel still looked guilty. "I'm still sorry." Then she perked up slightly, "So you and Sam aren't an item?"

Quinn laughed then and said, "'an item'? Have you always been this formal?"

"Shut up," Rachel said, pushing the blonde playfully, "and answer the question."

Quinn grinned at her. "Well no, we're not. We decided we'd be better off as friends." The cheerleader wondered briefly if she should confess the whole conversation but thought better of it. After all, the diva probably wouldn't appreciate that she'd told Sam she was gay before her, especially after what happened.

"Well, ok," Rachel beamed, "then I guess we can move on to talking about what happened between us on Monday.

"Ok," Quinn said cautiously, "but just so you know, I've never really been too good at talking about my emotions."

"That's ok, we don't have to talk if you don't want to," Rachel said dejectedly.

"No, I didn't mean – I do want to, I'm just not good at it." Quinn finished lamely.

"Well then, how about I start, and you just chip in when you need to?" Rachel suggested.

"That sounds pretty good," the blonde replied, "and I'll try to be as open as possible, I promise."

"Ok," Rachel replied. She then furrowed her brow and stared out of the window. She sat like that for a while and Quinn started to wonder what was going on. The silence was making her nervous, especially since it was Rachel she was supposed to be having a conversation with. "Ugh, this is so hard," The other girl finally breathed out in frustration, "it's normally so easy for me to talk to people, but I can't seem to find the right words in this instance. I don't know how much to say without scaring you."

Quinn smiled across at the other girl. "Just start at the beginning. Whatever you have to say I'll listen, and at this point there's nothing you can tell me that'll make me freak out."

"Ok, ok, I can do this," Rachel chanted to herself. She seemed to gather herself together, and finally looked Quinn in the eye addressing her directly. "I lied to you before in the library. You were part of the reason Finn and I broke up." She held her hand up, sensing the blonde's impending interruption. "Before you say anything, that doesn't mean it's your fault. It was just part of a much bigger picture. We were on our date and I admitted to myself…that I had feelings for you. More than friends type feelings." Quinn felt her heart flutter a little at that, but allowed Rachel to continue.

"I realised that couldn't be the only reason for me to end things with him and when I looked at our relationship objectively, I realised we actually had very little in common. I care about him, I even love him in my own way, but I'll never feel about him the way he feels about me, the way he deserves to have his girlfriend feel about him. So when he said he wanted us to be more serious, I ended it."

"I'm so sorry Rachel," Quinn said then, taking the brunette's hand, "I know you say it's not my fault but I can't help but think if I never came along, you never would have felt this way."

"Then if anything, I should be thanking you," Rachel smiled sadly, "because then I'd still be with Finn, giving him less than half the attention and love that he deserves. And I wouldn't have the chance to find someone who I really love." The blonde couldn't really say anything to that. "I guess all I want to know from you is how you feel about things," Rachel continued. "I mean, did that…moment mean anything to you, or was it just confusion or experimentation?"

This was it, Quinn realised. This was her chance to say it meant nothing, for her to carry on living a lie. Rachel was giving her an out, and the blonde had no doubt she'd phrased things that way on purpose. She was giving her the option of pretending it all meant nothing, even knowing that it _would_ be pretending. The fact that the brunette was willing to do that for her made it that much easier for Quinn to form a response.

"No, it definitely meant something to me. I really like you Rachel."

The beaming smile on Rachel's face at that moment made Quinn wonder why she wasn't more open with people all the time.


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hello everyone, and thankyou so much for your patience waiting for this. This chapter was an absolute joy to write, I hope you enjoy it. P.S. Thankyou again for all reviews, alerts and favourites, keep 'em coming!**

**A/N 2: If you haven't heard of the song mentioned in this chapter, you should have, it's an absolute classic ;) . If not, search it on Youtube.**

**A/N 3: As previously mentioned I know next to nothing about the US healthcare system, so if I got anything wrong this chapter, just go with it ;)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

From an early age, Brittany knew dancing was her life. Her father had tried to talk her out of dance class but she was persistent, and as all his hopes and dreams seemed to fall squarely on Quinn's shoulders, she had a little more leeway than her shorter sibling. She didn't know whether to feel happy about that or overlooked.

She was currently putting the polish on a routine she'd worked out for Cheerios. She may have only been on the squad for about a week, but Sue had already spotted her potential (say what you like about the woman, she had an eye for talent) and talked her into being the chief choreographer. Brittany was the first to admit that she wasn't the brightest, but she was struggling to work out exactly what coaching Coach Sue did. Quinn and Santana ran all the practices and Brittany choreographed the routines, all Coach seemed to do was yell at everyone through a megaphone. Even if she needed to speak to someone in her office she'd send Becky to fetch them rather than getting them herself. Brittany couldn't help but think the Cheerios would be more fun without her, and they'd probably get more done.

She was partway through rehearsing a particularly difficult manoeuvre when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Not letting it distract her from what she was doing, she acknowledged that it was Santana attempting unsuccessfully to sneak in and watch her. The blonde figured she didn't want to be seen for a reason, so allowed her to believe she hadn't been spotted and continued to rehearse.

As she finished up she couldn't resist clueing Santana in to her knowledge of her presence. "So, what did you think?" she asked.

Santana started. "You knew I was here?"

"Of course. You're good at a lot of things San, but sneaking isn't one of them. You'd make the worst spy ever."

"Fair enough," Santana chuckled, "and for the record, I thought that was amazing. I really hope you don't expect me to pick it up that quick in training though, I'm probably gonna end up flat on my ass."

Brittany giggled at the thought. "Don't worry, I'll run through it stage by stage, it'll all be good." She walked over to the Latina and sat down next to her. "So, how do you feel about being joint captain now? I never really got the chance to ask."

Santana shrugged, "It's not as bad as I thought. It actually takes some of the pressure off, you know? And as much as I hate to dish out praise to the Ice Queen, she's not a bad co-captain."

"I really wish you wouldn't call her that," Brittany sighed, "she's not an Ice Queen, she's just had a tough time."

Santana snorted. "Listen, if she wants to get into a bad dad's contest with me, I promise you I'd win hands down."

"Probably," Brittany shrugged, "but you shut people out too. If anything you should understand better than anyone why she is the way she is."

Santana stared into space for a minute, really thinking about what the blonde said. Was she really as closed off as Quinn? She liked to think not, but who did she really have as close friends? Just Rachel really. I mean she got on with Finn and Puck, but she still didn't really let them in. Finn knew the basics of her history but he didn't know everything, and Puck just knew her as the female equivalent of himself, which was so far from accurate it wasn't even funny. Maybe Brittany and Rachel were onto something.

Brittany meanwhile got lost in her own thoughts. She never understood why some people had so much trouble letting others in, she'd always trusted the people in her life and it hadn't caused her any lasting damage. She didn't even regret the situation with Chrissie, the memories of what happened in the bathroom had always bothered Quinn more than her, she just accepted that she couldn't please everyone and moved on. And if what happened helped Chrissie accept who she was, then it was worth it in her mind.

She then switched to her current situation. Santana had told her that this test tomorrow wasn't something she could pass or fail but she was still terrified. What if she said something wrong, what if someone called her stupid? She trusted Ms Pilsbury, she'd seemed really nice when they met last week if a little odd, but someone from outside was coming to do this test and she didn't know how they'd react.

Before she really thought about it, she was speaking. "Santana, can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure," the Latina responded without hesitation, "what do you need?"

The blonde started to fidget awkwardly. "Well, I have that test thing on Friday and I'm a little scared, I was wondering if you'd go with me." When Santana didn't respond she rushed on, "You wouldn't have to miss any classes, it's straight after glee, I understand if you're busy and everything, I just thought I'd ask because -"

"Woah woah," Santana said holding up a hand and grinning. "Of course I'll go with you, I was just surprised you asked me, that's all. Is Quinn not going?"

Brittany shrugged, "She said she would, and she wants to take me out for something to eat after, but I don't see why you both can't go with me. Rachel can come along too, if she wants, that way we can all just go for food after."

Santana smiled again and took the blonde's hand. "Sounds like a plan."

Brittany liked the way holding hands with Santana felt. She always felt a tingle whenever they touched, but there was just something so sweet about holding hands. "So, why are you sat in here with me anyway," she asked eventually.

"Quinn and Rachel are talking some stuff out," Santana replied, not releasing the other girl's hand. "Turns out them both acting weird the other day wasn't a coincidence, something major went down, I just don't know what it is. Then they were both in library together this morning and apparently Rachel said something to majorly screw everything up, so now they're talking." As she finished explaining her phone buzzed. She removed her hand from Brittany's to check it, and then smiled. "Speak of the devil, they're done. How about we go and meet them?"

"Sounds like a plan," Brittany grinned, mimicking Santana's phrasing from earlier. She took the Latina's hand again, and they walked to the parking lot.

* * *

Rachel freely acknowledged that it probably wasn't safe for her to be driving at the moment because her head was up in the clouds somewhere. Sure, her and Quinn had decided to 'keep things on the downlow' in the blonde's words ( a phrase Rachel was sure she'd never used before in her life) and take things slowly, what with them both just coming to terms with their sexuality and Rachel just ending a relationship, but Quinn had said that she liked her. _She likes me, she really likes me!_ Even in her head, she wasn't averse to paraphrasing Oscar winners.

"So, I know you're head's clearly elsewhere right now, but I have a proposition for you," she tuned in to hear Santana say.

Rachel decided to be playful. "I don't really like the way you use the word 'proposition'," Rachel winked at her friend.

"Ok, first off, ew," Santana snorted, "and secondly whatever happened with Quinn to put you in such a good mood, I don't want to hear the details. Ever."

It was Rachel's turn to get offended, "I resent that you think myself and Quinn got up to anything untoward while we talked," she sniffed, "the conversation just went…really well."

"It's the 'really well' part I don't need to know about," the Latina smirked.

"Stop that right now Tana!"

"You started it," the Latina shrugged, "next time, maybe you won't try to out-innuendo me. Anyway, back to the proposition. Brittany has her dyslexia test Friday after classes, and she wants me, you and Quinn to go along, and then grab some food after, what do you say?"

Immediately the wheels started turning in her head. _This is the perfect opportunity to really get the Brittana ball rolling. I should text Quinn. Wait, I just finished talking to her, I can't text her too soon can I? But what's the harm in texting her about the plan, it's not like I'd be talking about us._

"Hey, earth to Shrimp, what's wrong with you? Santana asked after about a minute of silence.

Rachel jumped a little, and parked the car outside her house. "Sorry, must've zoned out again. Of course I'll go, and food after sounds great. Am I to take it Breadstix will be the venue?"

Santana snorted, "Of course, where else would we go?"

Rachel smiled then remembered something. "You're going to you're mom's tomorrow night, right?" she asked as they headed to the house.

"Yeah, I didn't go tonight so I probably should. Why do you ask?"

Rachel opened the front door and headed straight for the kitchen avoiding eye contact. "Quinn's coming round to work on the duet for glee."

"Oh I bet she is," Santana smirked.

"Oh, grow up," Rachel said, rolling her eyes, "me and Quinn are friends, that's it."

Santana helped herself to a yoghurt and sat down at the kitchen island. "That's bull and you know it," she said, "the two of you have been moon eyed over each other since she moved here."

Rachel kept her back to her friend while she poured herself some coffee and dug out the soy milk so she couldn't see the nervous expression on her face. "Do you seriously have nothing better to do than comment on my love life? Need I remind you that I broke up with Finn yesterday?"

"Hey I'm just saying you like each other, I'm not saying you have to jump her bones right this second," the Latina responded, tucking into her snack.

Rachel kept herself turned away from her friend, and started to feel the guilt settle in her chest. Everything she said was true, she had just broken up with Finn the day before and she was already 'taking it slow' with someone else. She also felt bad that she couldn't tell Santana what was going on, but agreed with Quinn that it was better if they worked out exactly what was between them before they started telling people. She knew it was going to be painful for both her best friend and Finn when they found out, but she didn't want them to know when there may be nothing to get upset over.

They spent the night eating junk food and watching movies, Rachel's dad's occasionally checking they were both ok. When they went to bed, Rachel wondered, not for the first time, what she'd gotten herself into.

* * *

Early Cheerios practice the next day went by in a blur for Quinn, she pointed the squad in the right direction but her head wasn't really in it. She wouldn't mind if Santana didn't keep smirking at her, as if she was in her head.

After practice, she headed for the changing rooms quicker than anyone else and rushed through her shower, throwing her uniform back on and preparing to step into the corridors. "Yo, Ice Queen," she heard from behind her. _So close_, she thought.

"What do you want, Santana?" she said, throwing up her walls, turning and crossing her arms across her chest.

"I have something to say to you," Santana stated, mimicking Quinn's posture.

The blonde internally groaned. She really wasn't the frame of mind for this. She'd gotten home last night in a fantastic mood, whizzed through her homework, helped Brittany with hers and went to bed. In the morning however, she'd started to panic. What if Rachel had changed her mind? What if she told Santana or her dads? The way the Latina was looking at her now made her think the diva had slipped up. "Go ahead, no one's stopping you," she replied putting on a show of nonchalance.

"Something's going on with you and Shrimp," she said getting straight to the point. "She didn't tell me anything before you ask, but I've known her since we were kids, she can't hide anything from me."

Quinn was really nervous now. She knew how protective Santana was and truth be told she was slightly scared of the brunette. Sure she'd punched her once, but she'd caught her by surprise and she was pretty distraught at the time. "I don't know what you're talking about," she tried to brush the accusation off.

"Bullshit," Santana snapped, "you might be able to hide your emotions from me but she can't, I know something's up."

Quinn was getting stressed out now, and wanted this conversation over. "You've obviously already made up your mind, so why don't you say what you have to say?"

"Don't fuck with Shrimp, ok? She's my best friend and if you mess with her, I'll go all kinds of crazy on your ass."

"What, you mean like you messed with my sister?" Quinn said snidely, not too happy about what she was getting accused of. "How about you don't mess with her any more either?"

The Latina's face turned a little red at that. "Ok, for starters I've already apologised for that like a million times and I've already promised everyone I'll never do anything like that again, and you bringing it up when I'm trying to be real with you for a change is seriously low. Secondly, I'm serious. If you and Rachel wanna keep this to yourselves fine, I'll play along and pretend I know dick, but that doesn't mean I won't be watching you. Seriously, if she starts getting all stressed and mopey over you I will hunt you down and it won't be pretty, clear?"

"As long as you promise the same about Brittany. I'm no dumber than you are Santana, I know you've got a thing with my sister and I think you owe me the same promise you're making me give." Quinn stared down the other girl.

Santana eventually sighed and looked away. "Ok fine. I promise I won't hurt Brittany, and that I'll take care of her if anything ever happens and whatever."

"Me too," Quinn said, "and sorry about bringing up the crap from last week, you're right that wasn't cool."

"Ok then, that's all I had to say. I guess I'll see you in glee tomorrow afternoon." Santana walked out of the dressing room, leaving Quinn to wonder what she'd done to deserve all of this.

* * *

Santana was exhausted as Rachel drove her to her mothers. Glee had been tiring, everyone was still arguing about the group performance and Finn barely said a word the whole time, obviously still hurting from the break up. Additionally, Mr Schue had asked Rachel and Quinn about their duet performance the next day and it was clear they hadn't done a thing for it, which wasn't like the diva. She liked to be prepared in advance, sure she could wing it pretty well but when rehearsal was available she would work herself near to death to perfect it. It left the Latina to think even more about what the two girls had been getting up to instead of rehearsing, making her more paranoid about the situation than she already was.

Truth be told, Santana didn't actually have anything against Quinn any more, but Rachel had only been single for two days. Add to that the fact that as far as she knew Quinn was the first girl she'd ever had a crush on, and it was probably the same situation for the blonde, and all sorts of things could go wrong. She didn't want to come across as over protective but the last thing Rachel needed right now was to jump straight from one relationship into another.

"Do you want me to come in?" Rachel asked when they pulled up outside.

"Nah it's ok, you need to go home and get this duet nailed, Mr Schue really didn't look happy about it today," she replied, smiling at her friend.

Rachel sighed and looked a little worried. "You're right. I really don't want to let myself down on this, especially after making such a big deal about it."

Santana hopped out of the car and shut the door behind her, leaning through the window before she left. "Remember, I'm not staying at mom's tonight, I'll be back around ten."

"Ok see you then, have fun," Rachel waved, then drove off.

As Santana approached the front door, she knew something was wrong. There were no lights on, and she could see through the window that her mom wasn't in her usual spot on the couch. She was about to let herself in when Mr Harris came flying out of his house towards her. "Santana! Don't you ever check your phone?" he gasped out, clearly out of breath.

The Latina was starting to worry now. "I came straight here from school I haven't even looked at it. What's going on?"

"You're mom's at the hospital," he gasped out. Santana's hands flew to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. "No, no, it's nothing bad," her neighbour said, seeing the state she was in, "well not really. She asked me to take her to the doctor this afternoon. She told him everything about her drinking, and that she wanted to get help. He said her insurance wouldn't cover a stay in rehab, but he admitted her to the hospital for a few days to dry out, but beyond that there's nothing he can do."

Santana took a few calming breaths, then looked at the older man. "Wait, she tried to get help? There's no way!"

"She kept saying in the car that she had to do it for you," he said, smiling. "She told me to get a hold of you and Rico as soon as I could, and to tell you she wanted to be better."

The Latina girl was openly weeping now. After all this time, her mother was finally trying to fix her life, and it was because of her and what she'd said, and no doubt because of the affection she'd received from Brittany, a total stranger.

Mr Harris pulled her into a hug and held her till the sobs stopped. "Your brother said he'll be back at the weekend, his professors have said he can't miss any more class. I'll drive you to the hospital now," he said, and Santana realised he'd been guiding her to his car all this time.

When they arrived at the hospital, Santana told them frantically who she was and why she was there, and was ushered straight through. Mr Harris opted to stay in the waiting room, wanting to give the two women some time alone.

She entered her mother's room and was shocked when she saw her lying there. Her hair was in complete disarray, her skin was frighteningly pale and she was visibly trembling, but her eyes were the most focused Santana had ever seen them, and they lit up when they saw her daughter stood in the doorway.

"Hey baby girl," she said with a beaming smile, "I'm so happy you're here."

"Hi mama," Santana said, tearing up again. She walked fully into the room and took the seat by her mother's head, taking her hand.

"I have you to thank for this," Maria said, holding her daughter's gaze, "you reminded me of what I was supposed to do for you, of my job as a mother. You need me to be there for you, and that's exactly what I'm going do to from now on. And if Rico will let me apologise, I'll be there for him too."

Before Santana could respond a doctor entered. Hello Ms Lopez, this must be the daughter you've talked about non-stop," he said smiling. "I just need to check a few things." He checked over the IV and a few of the machines in the room that the Latina was just now noticing. "Your vitals look pretty good all things considered. For someone with your history you're actually in pretty good shape, provided you keep this up your body should make a full recovery," he looked at his notes and cleared his throat gently. "Unfortunately we can't keep you in past Sunday, but we'll make sure you get the best possible care until then."

"But that's only three days!" Santana exploded, "How is she supposed to just go back to her house and keep this up without help? How can you send someone away when they've said they need help?"

The doctor looked truly mortified. "I'm very sorry Miss Lopez, but there's nothing I can do, believe if there was I'd do it. Your mother's insurance won't cover a stint in rehab, and we can't let her stay here when she's technically healthy in case we need the bed for an emergency."

"It's ok baby girl," her mother soothed, stroking the hand she was still holding, "it'll be alright, I can manage at home." Santana looked in her mother's eyes and saw the fear there, knowing this short hospital stay wouldn't be enough. While she was desperately thinking of what she could do she heard someone else enter the room, and looked up to see Leroy Berry standing there.

"Hello Maria," he said warmly, "how are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a bus," she chuckled.

He smiled at her then addressed Santana. "Could I have a word with you in the hall honey? There's something we need to discuss."

Santana obediently followed Leroy into the hall. "What's up Mr B?" she asked.

"I have a solution to your mother's problem, but I need to run it by you," he said, holding the girl's gaze.

The Latina felt hope rising in her chest. "Really what's the solution."

"Me and Hiram are going to pay for your mother's rehab treatment."

Santana stood for a moment, processing what he'd just said. _He can't be serious. That' tens of thousands of dollars, he can't seriously be offering to pay that!_ "Mr B -" she started before he cut her off.

"Tana, do you honestly think your mother will be able to do this on her own if they send her home on Sunday?" he asked.

She started to speak, then looked in his eyes and shook her head, trying to hold back the tears again.

"Then it's settled. Hiram and I have more than enough in savings to cover this, and if it means you get to have a family again with your mother it's worth it." His voice turned more gentle then. "You need to let go of whatever pride you have about handling things yourself and realise you can't do this alone. With the best intentions in the world, Maria will need professional help to get through this. I've no doubt you'll be her prime motivator, but that doesn't mean it's your responsibility to see her through this yourself."

Santana didn't know what to say. Everything was just too overwhelming, she suddenly seemed to be feeling everything all at once and it was too much. Before she could stop to think, she threw herself into Leroy's arm and sobbed her heart out.

* * *

Quinn had decided that her day was going to be stressful today no matter what. When she arrived at Rachel's she'd been ushered straight up to her room to brainstorm songs. They'd been at it for an hour now and still couldn't think of anything. Rachel was insisting on no obvious love songs because she was worried the club would work something out and she felt like she was rubbing Finn's face in it if they did a break up song, so that severely limited their options. They'd been on Google, iTunes and Youtube and still couldn't find anything that felt right.

"Let's face it Rach, this is a lost cause," the blonde said, her voice muffled by the pillow over her face, "let's just tell Mr Schue we couldn't find anything and let Sam and Mercedes have the duet."

"No, I refuse to give up," Rachel said sounding frantic, "we said we'd find a duet and we will find one if my name isn't Rachel Barbra Berry."

"Barbra?" Quinn said with a raised eyebrow, "you're dad's never gave you a chance, did they?"

Rachel stopped hunting through the internet to smile at the blonde. "I prefer to think of it as premonition. They knew I was destined to be as successful and talented as she is." Rachel's face went thoughtful for a second, then stared at Quinn. "How much do you trust me?"

Quinn was trying not to laugh at the serious look on Rachel's face. "What do you want me to do," she asked resignedly.

"I'm having a premonition of my own," she replied. "I'm going to put my iPod on shuffle. The first song it plays will be our duet."

"Rachel that's crazy," Quinn scoffed, "what if something completely ridiculous comes on?"

"There are no ridiculous songs on my iPod, Quinn Fabray," the diva said haughtily, "and you said you trusted me."

"Fine," Quinn threw her arms in the air, "it has to be better than arguing for another hour."

Rachel got out her iPod, and her finger hovered over the shuffle button. "Ready?" she asked.

Quinn found herself strangely excited by this. Her heart was beating a little faster and her palms started to sweat. Then she reminded herself it was only a song. "Ready."

Rachel hit the button, and the device whirred for a moment, and then started playing the perfect song. Both girls looked at each other with matching ear-splitting grins on their faces. "Perfect," they said in unison. The sound of Ben E. King's 'Stand By Me' was filling Rachel's bedroom.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Quinn said, laughing in relief.

"I know," Rachel said, "it's perfect, it's a love song but could easily be passed off as something a friend would sing to you."

They spent the next couple of hours sorting out a vocal arrangement, and doing some basic choreography. Quinn devised most of it herself, and was quite proud of it. As time went on they had more and more fun working on it, and on the final run through Rachel ended up in her arms, their faces no more than an inch apart.

This time the blonde didn't hesitate, she leaned into Rachel's personal space and captured her lips in a kiss. She sensed the surprise from the other girl and was about to pull away, but the next thing she knew Rachel's hands were behind her head and tangled in her hair, pulling her closer. Quinn's brain melted down at this point and coherent thought flew out of the window. She tightened her arms around Rachel's waist pulling her as close to her body as possible, deepening the kiss in the process, their tongues dancing together, both of them moaning. Rachel was the first to recover the use of her brain, and she pulled away slightly, resting her forehead on Quinn's.

"So, taking it slow is going well," the brunette chuckled. Quinn would have responded but her brain was still on temporary hiatus. "Are you with me, Quinn?" Rachel smiled.

The blonde finally snapped back to herself, and the most coherent speech she could manage was, "Wow, that…wow…amazing…"

Rachel pulled away more but kept hold of Quinn's hands, and laughed. "I never thought I'd render you catatonic," she said when she finally stopped.

Quinn pulled her closer again for a hug and kissed the top of her head. "I think we should rethink the ending for the live show," she joked, "I mean, Puck will probably love it but Santana may just rip my head off." She was going to mention Finn, but thought better of it.

"Agreed," Rachel chuckled.

"Seriously, though," Quinn said then, "taking it slow is gonna be really tough. I don't mean I regret the kiss," she said pulling away and looking Rachel in the eyes, "but we agreed to do it for a reason, and that reason's still valid."

"I know," Rachel said, burrowing into her chest, "maybe we should limit the time we spend together when it's just the two of us," she suggested, "just until we decide that we're ready for more. If this happens again, it'll be impossible to maintain the plan." Rachel's face brightened then. "Speaking of plans, we have a golden opportunity to finally implement Operation Brittana tomorrow evening."

Quinn's eyebrow raised again. "Really Rach? We have a mind-blowing kiss and you think of your best friend and my sister?"

"Don't tease," she said, hitting the blonde gently on the arm. "I'm serious, we'll all be going to Brittany's test then out for dinner afterwards, it'll be perfect, we can just sneak off early and leave them to it."

"You, Miss Berry, are utterly devious," Quinn said smiling down at the shorter girl.

"I know," Rachel smirked, "and you wouldn't have me any other way."


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: Okay apologies for the delay on this chap, it's due to a combination of slight writer's block and my boss suddenly thinking I enjoy 55 hour weeks so am very sorry. Thankyou once again for the reviews and follows, keep 'em coming.**

**A/N: Will be having a little competition soon for this fic, so keep an eye on the author's notes and I could write your own OC into this fic. I'll probably put the comp up the chapter after next but if you want to enter, start thinking of a character name, and a basic personality now (I'll be writing them as a student rather than an adult character, so bear that in mind.) Just fyi, don't tell me yet, keep it to yourself until the comp goes up :)**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

Santana was walking towards glee the following afternoon, feeling more positive about her life than ever. Seriously, things were going so well at the moment it was starting to get spooky. Her mom was finally in rehab (they'd moved her across to St David's that morning), her brother had called the previous night to speak to Leroy, and Santana could hear him weeping his thanks down the phone, then he'd playfully told Santana off for not Skyping with him like she promised, Quinn seemed to be off her case finally, and Brittany…well, one thing at a time.

She was the last to arrive, and noticed that Quinn had sat on the far side of her sister rather than her new spot next to Rachel, obviously allowing Santana to catch up with her friend. She gave the blonde a nod of approval, gave Finn a small smile which he barely returned and sat herself down.

"What's up with you?" Rachel asked smiling at her, "you look like the cat who got the cream."

Santana continued grinning, which unknown to her was starting to unnerve some of the other gleeks. After all it was rare enough to see Santana smile as it was, let alone grinning constantly. "I just got some good news is all. I'll tell you all about it later," she continued, sensing an interruption, "it's not so exciting that I want to be telling it twice."

Rachel huffed at her and turned to face Mr Schue, who was just entering. As it turns out, he'd gotten so frustrated with everyone's indecision about the group performance that he'd narrowed it down to three potential songs himself and done the arrangements for all of them, announcing they were moving practice to the auditorium.

"Mr Schue before we go, myself and Quinn would like to put forward our submission for the duets slot. I know we seemed a little disorganised yesterday but we finally put something good together last night."

Mercedes snorted from her usual spot between Kurt and Tina. "Girl, you know me and Sam got this one down," she said. The blonde boy turned around to give her a smile and a fist bump, making her grin like the Cheshire Cat.

"Well Mercedes, if you're so sure you can't be defeated I guess you have nothing to worry about if we hear it," Mr Schue said, smiling at the girl who just huffed in her seat and rolled her eyes.

With a grateful grin at her teacher, Rachel got up and started handing out sheet music to Brad the pianist and the band. Seriously, it was spooky how they had nothing better to do than linger in the choir room just waiting to be called upon. Quinn hopped up to join her when she was ready, and they took up their positions.

As soon as to opening bassline kicked in Santana couldn't help put smile. This was one of her favourite all-time jams! She noticed Brittany scooch to Rachel's empty seat and link their arms, and the Latina unconsciously leaned her head on the other girl's shoulder, not even thinking how strange it might look.

She was thoroughly impressed by her two friend's performance, there was no way you could tell they'd only worked on it the night before. She once again marvelled at Rachel's gift, she was an expert at pulling things out of the bag at the last minute.

The blonde next to her whispered into her ear, making her tingle. "Do you think anyone else has noticed they can't stop staring at each other?" Of course Santana had already spotted this herself, so she started surreptitiously glancing around the room. Mercedes and Sam were doing their best not to look impressed and failing miserably and Mike, Tina and Artie were all too busy enjoying the arrangement. Puck however had his eyes narrowed shrewdly, and Finn looked a little shocked and more than a little hurt. _Uh oh_, the Latina thought, _this is definitely not good._

At the end of the performance, everyone was clapping and cheering. Even Finn, although a little reluctantly.

"Well, I'll put it to a vote," Mr Schue said, "who wants Rachel and Quinn as the duet?"

Mercedes was one of the first ones with her hand in the air. "Damn, even I got to give you that, you guys were on fire!" she said, earning a laugh from everyone. Well almost everyone, Finn looked like someone had just punched him in the gut. As Brittany scooted back across so Rachel could take her seat, Santana whispered to the diva "we need to talk, urgently. Wait for me after practice."

The shorter girl looked worried as they all made their way to the auditorium, and the Latina felt a little guilty. She just shrugged to herself though. _Someone needs to point this out or things are gonna turn nasty_ she justified to herself.

They ran through each song once with basic choreography. None of them sounded amazing yet, but with practice they'd all be contenders. Unfortunately with Sectionals now weeks away, practice time was something they were short on.

As they all trooped out, Brittany jumped in front of Santana. "Hey San, are you still coming to my test now?" She asked.

"Of course Britt," she reassured her, "you go ahead with Quinn and we'll catch you up, I just need to talk to Rachel for a sec."

Brittany nodded understandingly. "I know, Finn looked pretty bummed, huh? I'll see you guys in a few." With that, she linked arms with her sister and headed towards Ms Pilsbury's office, Santana shaking her head. _Seriously, how perceptive can one person be? _She thought.

Rachel was waiting for her outside the door. "What did you want to talk to me about, Tana?" she asked.

The Latina took her arm and led her into a deserted classroom, gesturing her to take a seat while she checked no one was eavesdropping. "You need to be more careful in public," she said. If there's one thing she knew about her friend, the direct approach was always the way to go.

"I don't know what you mean," Rachel said, looking nervous.

Santana snorted at her. "Oh please. You and Quinn were practically eye-fucking during that performance." Rachel opened her mouth to argue, but stopped when she saw the glare on her friend's face. "Don't even try and deny it, Rachel. You can keep trying to convince me you two are 'just good friends' but I'm not blind or stupid. And judging from their reactions, neither are Brttany, Puck or Finn."

"Finn noticed?" Rachel asked, paling slightly.

"Yeah he did," Santana snapped, "and the poor guy looked like he'd gone five rounds with Tyson." She sighed then and deflated slightly when she saw the sad and guilty look on Rachel's face. "Look, I get you and Quinn are…whatever the Hell you are, but you need to tone down the PDA especially in front of Finn. This isn't about Quinn being a girl or some high school drama, this is about respect. You broke up with Finn three days ago and I'm guessing you told him there was no one else?" Rachel looked to the floor and gave a barely there nod. "Well now he's gonna think you're lying. The poor guy is still crazy about you and within a week you ditch him and move on, I know if it was me I'd be thinking some cheating went down."

Rachel's head snapped up at that, and the guilt was plain in her eyes. "We didn't cheat we just…we almost…"

Santana walked over and sat down in front of the diva, taking her hands. "You would've if you weren't interrupted, right?"

"Yeah," Rachel said in a quiet voice.

"You need to talk to Finn," she said, holding her friend's gaze, "not to tell him you almost cheated, but to reassure him. Unless I'm a total moron, he already knows about you and Quinn and he needs to know nothing was going on beforehand. I know it almost did but we're the only ones who know about that and finding out will only hurt him even more."

"You think I should lie?" Rachel looked appalled at the notion.

"To protect his feelings, yeah I do," the Latina said firmly. "Tell him you had feelings for her, he'll appreciate that much truth, but tell him you almost cheated and it'll crush him."

Rachel suddenly got a focused, determined look in her eyes. "You're right, I'll speak to him after the weekend."

"That's my girl," Santana smiled, "now let's go wait for Britt," she said. The two girls stood together, linked arms and headed for Ms Pilsbury's office.

* * *

Quinn sat outside the office, tapping her foot impatiently. Brittany had gone straight in and she'd been asked to wait outside. The tester, a balding middle-aged man called Brian, had gently told her she wasn't allowed to sit in as it may influence how she answered his questions. Ms Pilsbury had excused herself to get some coffee. The blonde girl had seen her making a beeline for someone who looked suspiciously like Mr Schue lingering around the corner, so figured she wouldn't be back for awhile.

"Hey," she heard from next to her, and saw Rachel and Santana stood waiting for her to acknowledge them.

"Where were you two just now?" she asked by way of greeting, cursing how rude it sounded.

"We needed to talk about something," Rachel said taking an empty seat next to Quinn and holding her hand, "sorry."

"It's fine," she replied shrugging, "I guess I was a little rude."

"So, what's goin' on in there, how come you're out here?" Santana interrupted, seemingly attempting to burn a hole in the office door with her eyes.

"We have to wait outside," she said, smiling inwardly at the Latina's protectiveness, "he wants her to answer for herself, I guess."

Santana deflated slightly and threw herself into the seat next to Rachel.

Ms Pilsbury reappeared about five minutes later. She looked a little dishevelled and had no coffee with her. Quinn rolled her eyes and decided to let it slide.

Half an hour later, in which no one said a word, Brittany emerged from the office beaming from ear to ear. "Hey guys, guess what? I'm not stupid!" she shouted, making everyone present involuntarily wince.

"That's great B, but we already knew that," Quinn laughed, "what did the test say?"

Brain interjected at this point. "As suspected, Brittany has dyslexia. However, I've also discovered she has ADHD. Have you heard of it?"

"Yes, isn't that a hyperactivity thing?" Quinn asked, watching Brittany bounce up and down and show her notes to a dishevelled Ms Pilsbury.

"That's correct. She'll need to speak to her doctor about possible medications. Of course, meds aren't for everyone," he said hastily, seeing the icy look in the shorter blonde's eyes, "just an idea. It may be worth getting her to see a Dietician, there may be something in her diet that triggers most of the symptoms."

"Thanks," she said, sighing in relief, "what about at school, what help can she expect there?"

"Well," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, "there are a number of tutors registered with the Education Board that specialise in cases like this. They can sit with her in the lessons she struggles with, help her with concentration techniques and note taking, and find a way of helping her to learn that works for her. They'll cover the cost so it won't come out of the school's budget. That should help your Principle to agree."

"Thank you so much," she said, taking his hand, "you have no idea how much this means."

Brian chuckled at her. "Just doing my job kiddo."

As the tester shook hands with Ms Pilsbury and said his goodbyes, and the guidance counsellor disappeared muttering something about needing to disinfect her office and hands, Quinn turned to Santana. Taking a deep breath and bracing herself, she moved forward and hugged the Latina girl, shocking everyone present (except Brittany of course).

"What was that for?" Santana asked nervously, looking around for the imminent signs of the end of the world.

"If you hadn't spoken up last week, none of this would have happened. Thank you," Quinn said, barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry?" Santana said mischievously, cupping her ear with her hand. "I didn't quite catch that, could you say it again?"

Quinn huffed and narrowed her eyes at the Latina. "Don't push your luck."

Santana just laughed, and Rachel rolled her eyes at her.

"Breadstix!" Brittany suddenly shouted, making them all jump. She'd been so quiet they'd almost forgotten she was there.

"Damn straight," Santana crowed, and the four of them laughed and headed towards the exit. Quinn marvelled, not for the first time, how quickly these two girls, who had been strangers two weeks ago had irrefutably interjected themselves into the Fabray's lives. As Rachel linked her arm and rested her head there, the blonde decided she wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Rachel was sat in Breadstix with the girls, waiting for her food and trying not to blush. She'd sat herself down next to Quinn without thinking, earning a smirk from Santana, and at some point her leg had accidently caught against the blondes. This had led the other girl to give her a naughty little smile, and had instigated a game of footsie under the table. The game had progressed to the point where Quinn's foot was rapidly approaching her thigh and the hem of her skirt, causing her embarrassment (but not so much that she'd ask her to stop. She was only human, after all). At some point, they'd also ended up holding hands under the table, and the diva couldn't for the life of her work out when that had happened.

The footsie and hand-holding stopped once the food arrived and Rachel picked at her salad, missing the contact. Quinn smiling at her almost constantly didn't help her at all, and she suddenly felt hot.

After they finished eating and the waitress took their plates, Santana cleared her throat.

"Ok, I have a bit of an announcement to make. I know this may take away from Brittany a little, but it needs to be said." Rachel noticed Brittany smile at the Latina and nod in encouragement.

"I think everyone at this table knows about my home situation by now. I know I've never told Quinn but Britt knows she's free to tell you." Rachel glanced at her friend (girlfriend?) and saw her nod affirmatively.

"Well, yesterday while we were at school, my mom went to the doctor and told him everything. He said her insurance wouldn't cover rehab but admitted her to hospital for a few days. After I talked to her for a while, Rachel's daddy, Leroy, came and told me that him and Hiram are gonna put her through rehab, and that I'm gonna live with them till she gets out."

Rachel had chosen that moment to take a sip of her water, and ended up spraying half of it across the table. "Why didn't they tell me?" she exclaimed, choking slightly.

Quinn started patting her on the back while she got her breath and the other two both laughed at her.

"I asked them not to," Santana said once she'd calmed down, "I wanted to tell you myself."

"That's fair. Isn't it Rachel?" Quinn said, looking pointedly at her. Rachel resented that slightly.

"Of course it's fair, you don't need to prompt me, Quinn," she said huffily.

"You're right I'm sorry," the blonde said, batting her eyelashes and pouting. "Forgive me?"

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "How can I say no to that?" she said.

Brittany had been hugging Santana pretty much non-stop since her announcement. She finally released her and gave her a kiss on the cheek making the Latina blush. "Now it's really a celebration. Who wants ice cream?" she shouted, deafening them.

"Yeah, E numbers, that's exactly what you need, B," Quinn said laughing.

Brittany just looked confused. "I thought E was a letter?" she said. Then immediately got distracted by the napkin dispenser.

"How did you not notice she was hyperactive?" Rachel asked Quinn.

The blonde just shrugged. "B is B, it never occurred to any of us there was something wrong with her. I mean, how could there be anything wrong with someone just because their happy all the time?"

Rachel had no argument and when Brittany ordered four chocolate sundaes from the waitress, no one had the heart to tell her no. While they waited for their ice cream, the four of them slipped into casual conversation, and Rachel found her hand linked to Quinn's again. She seriously had to work out how this kept happening.

"Hey guys," she heard from next to her, and looked up to see Puck, Sam, Mike and Finn stood there, an impatient waitress trying to lead them to a table. Puck who'd addressed them first leered slightly. "This table's like the Puckster's ultimate wet dream," he said sleazily.

"Puck, why don't you say 'Hi' to your hand buddy, that's all the action you'll be getting tonight," Santana drawled, making him turn red and everyone else laugh.

Rachel was laughing so much she forgot about her hand linked with Quinn's, until she noticed where Finn was looking. The expression on his face was heartbreaking.

"Come on guys, I'm hungry," he said quietly, "see you girls later." The other boys followed him and the huffy waitress to their table. Rachel glanced across at Quinn and caught the guilty look in her eyes. She'd obviously caught Finn's body language as well, and judging by the glare on Santana's face, so had she.

She was distracted during the dessert. Quinn kept trying to catch her eye, but she couldn't bring herself to look at the blonde. Finally she saw Finn go outside to get some air and decided she needed to talk to him now, this couldn't wait until Monday. Excusing herself, she headed for the exit.

Finn was stood outside leaning against the wall and staring into space. "Hey," Rachel said, earning a grunt in response. She stood next to him for a minute or two before asking, "Are you ok?"

"How can you ask me that?" he snapped, using a tone Rachel had never heard on him before.

"I guess I deserved that," she said in a small voice, feeling worse by the second.

"You lied to me, Rach," he said in a calmer voice this time, turning to face her.

"What do you mean?" she queried, feeling the nerves build up in her stomach.

"You know what I mean!" he exploded. "I gave you the chance to tell me if there was anyone else, and you denied it. I knew there was, but I figured it was up to you not to tell me. But to come out and see you holding hands with someone else three days after you dumped me? That hurts." He's mercifully said all this in a quieter tone, obviously seeing Rachel jump and not wanting to scare her no matter how angry he was.

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, near to tears, "I know that doesn't make it right but I am."

He just turned back away from her, staring into space again. After a little while, he said, "I would've understood you know? It doesn't matter to me that she's a girl, or whatever. The worst thing is looking back, I remember thinking the way you looked at her was…different. I didn't notice at the time but…I guess that's the beauty of hindsight," he said with a humourless chuckle.

"I'm sorry," she said again, knowing now that no words would be enough.

"Stop saying that," he said firmly, "it's done. Just stay away from me for awhile, I'm pretty mad at you and the last thing I wanna do is yell at you. I'd rather take it out on a punchbag in the gym."

She stood there silently for a minute, getting her tears under control. She noticed the other three girls standing by the door, Santana signalling that she'd taken care of the cheque and Quinn looking concerned. Brittany appeared to be making origami shapes with a napkin she'd taken from the table.

"I have to go," she said to the tall boy, "they're waiting for me,"

As she turned to leave, Finn said, "I'm sorry."

She turned back and looked at him incredulously. "For what?"

He looked uncomfortable. "For yelling at you. For not being good enough for you."

She walked towards him then, and took his chin in her hand, forcing him to look at her. "You listen to me, Finn Hudson. You have done nothing, absolutely nothing, to apologise for. You have been sweet to me, put up with my demanding behaviour and taken care of me."

"But it wasn't enough," he said, pain in his eyes.

"No it wasn't," she replied, "but not because you were a bad boyfriend, because you were a boy. You did nothing wrong, and one day you'll meet a girl who likes boys who'll appreciate how wonderful you are."

"I hope so," he said, managing a smile, "seems like most of the girls I know like girls," he said nodding towards the others.

She stared at him. "You knew?"

"Of course," he snorted, "I know I'm not the smartest but I have eyes. Santana's one of the hottest girls in school but she hasn't had a boyfriend in years, and her and Brittany are adorable around each other. You better make sure they get together," he said, smirking at her.

"I'm on it," she said winking at him.

He smiled bigger, then let it slide into a frown. "I meant what I said, you know. I am still mad, and I'm gonna need my space."

"I know," she said, losing her own smile. "I guess it's just good to know we'll eventually be friends again."

"We will," he said. Looking away yet again. "I'd better go back in, the guys probably think something's happened to me."

The other girls sensed they were safe, and exited the restaurant. "Bye Finn," Rachel said over her shoulder as he headed back to the restaurant.

"Bye Rach," he said, then looking at Quinn he finished with, "be safe."

Quinn gave him a nod, waited for him to re-enter the restaurant, and took Rachel's hand.

Rachel rested her head against Quinn's shoulder in the car ride home. Brittany had opted to drive, but even the speed at which they were travelling wasn't enough to shake the brunette from her thoughts. She was thinking about what Finn and Santana had said that day. Had it really only been three days since they broke up? It felt like a lifetime. She was suddenly very aware that she was dangerously close to drifting into a serious relationship within days of ending a long, albeit casual, one with someone else. Someone who clearly loved her.

Rachel snuggled deeper into Quinn's side, feeling the blonde wrap her arm around her. The brunette decided not to think about it for now. After all, they were both happy and they'd already discussed it not being a serious thing. As far as Rachel was concerned, nothing could go wrong.


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N Hello all! Thankyou once again for your reviews and alerts and especially for the favourites, got loads from the last chapter! I hope you have your OC character ideas ready I'll be running the competition from the next chapter**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

"Mr Schue, we are NOT doing Journey again!" Everyone was surprised to hear Mike exclaim during Monday afternoon's glee practice. The morning session had gone really badly, so their teacher had asked them for an extra practice in the auditorium after school. Everyone had gone along with it.

"I totally agree," Puck chipped in, "I guess Journey are kinda cool for older dudes, but we're kids. Can't we do something a bit more recent?" Everyone was nodding and Mr Schue was trying his best not to look offended for being called an 'older dude'. They were really struggling to choose which of the three songs they were going to perform as their group number at Sectionals. Unsurprisingly, their teacher had managed to sneak a Journey number in there and was pushing hard for the group to go with it.

He surveyed the annoyed faces of the teens in front of him, and realised not for the first time he'd completely misjudged things. He might love some adult rock, but most teenagers weren't even a little bit interested. In fact, all three songs he'd chosen were adult contemporary and none of them were sounding right. He sighed and glanced across at Rachel expecting her to have a comment or suggestion, but instead was surprised to see her distracted and trying not to laugh at something the new girl, Quinn, had whispered to her.

"Rachel, Quinn," he said sharply, "we're trying to pick a song for Sectionals here, this is important. Could your conversation wait until later please?"

"Sorry Mr Schue," both girls chorused, looking slightly abashed.

Rachel piped up then. "As much as I like the anthemic nature of Journey and know how well they'd go down with the judges, we performed a Journey medley at Regionals last year. If we go for the same again this year we'll start to get a reputation as a one-trick pony, and we're at our best when we use the element of surprise."

She moved to stand next to Mr Schue at the front of the stage, facing the group. The teacher was unsurprised by this, any number of times he'd felt like a bystander as Rachel almost seemed to single-handedly drag the rest of the group forwards. "I suggest we choose the option that's of a similar genre but slightly more contemporary. My recommendation would be the U2 number. The song is current enough to appeal to the younger generation and the band have been around forever so the older people in the audience will appreciate it too. Everyone knows the more appreciative an audience is of a performance, the more likely the judges are to vote in their favour.

Everyone was nodding along and Mr Schue was once again incredibly proud of his best performer. It would have taken him forever to persuade the club to go with his choice, but she just put her argument forward and everyone agreed with her. They might get irritated with her attitude sometimes but her track record on pulling the group together was well proven.

"I'm down with that," Artie chipped in, and everyone else called out in the affirmative.

"Ok, U2 it is," Mr Schue agreed, "and we finally have our setlist for Sectionals!" Everyone whooped and hi-fived in celebration. "Well, I guess you can all go, we'll start rehearsing like crazy for the next couple of weeks. See you tomorrow guys." As Rachel moved away from him to collect her things he called after her, "Rachel, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Of course Mr Schue, what's up?" she asked, looking at him curiously as everyone filed out. Mr Schue noticed to Fabray girls and Santana lingering by the doorway.

"Girls," he addressed them, "could you give us a minute?"

Santana predictably huffed but all three left, Quinn shooting a smile at Rachel on her way out.

"Have I done something wrong?" Rachel asked, looking worried. "I know I wasn't listening before and I am sorry about that."

"It's ok Rach, and don't worry you're not in trouble," the teacher reassured her while she let out a breath, "I'm just a little worried about you. You haven't been yourself for the last week and you seemed pretty distracted in class too. I have to ask, is everything ok with you?"

"Of course, everything's fine," Rachel assured him, although she looked a little nervous as she said it, "it's just been a little stressful lately. I'm absolutely fine though and will continue to put in maximum effort."

"You know if you're stressed you can ease off a little," Mr Schue said gently, "it's not your responsibility to do all the work, even if you are Captain. Finn's your co-Captain, if you need a break I'm sure he'd be willing to pick up the slack." If he hadn't been paying attention he would have missed the slight flinch in the diva's eyes when he mentioned Finn's name. "I know you two aren't getting along right now but he's a good guy and he cares about the club."

"I'm fine, honestly," Rachel stressed again, "like I said I had a busy week, but I'll be back to my old self from now on."

"All I'm saying is don't push yourself too hard," Mr Schue pressed, "all the club are your friends, if you ever need help just ask."

Rachel smiled at him gratefully. "I will, thanks Mr Schue."

"Ok I'll let you go before Santana threatens to go 'all Lima Heights' on me," he chuckled.

Rachel laughed, picked up her things and waved at her teacher as he left. They might argue and squabble pretty much constantly but he loved each and every one of these kids, and he wouldn't change any of them for the world.

* * *

"So, what was that all about?" Santana asked from the back of Rachel's car. She was a little grumpy about getting bumped to the backseat but Brittany had got excited about riding shotgun and there was no way any of the other three were going to refuse her anything.

"What was what all about?" Rachel shot back, sounding a little stressed.

Santana looked closely at her friend. She looked more tired than she'd ever looked before, even more than she looked during rehearsals for Regionals the previous year. The Latina knew she wasn't sleeping properly because Quinn had told her at the afternoon Cheerios practice that they'd been texting at all hours of the night. Santana knew from experience that her friend didn't cope well without eight hours sleep every night.

"What did Mr Schue want?" she asked patiently.

Rachel concentrated on the road more avidly than usual and didn't answer straight away. Quinn was looking concerned at the tension in her girl's voice and Brittany had stopped doodling and was listening in as well. "He was just checking that I'm ok," she finally responded when she hit a red light.

"And what did you tell him?" Santana asked cautiously.

"What do you think?" Rachel uncharacteristically snapped. "I'm fine! I've just had a lot to think about this last week, but everything's good now." As soon as she pulled up outside her house, she jumped out of the car and power walked to the front door, leaving it open as she entered.

"Wait," Santana said, taking Quinn's arm. The blonde was about to dive out of the car and chase after the smaller girl, when the Latina stopped her. She narrowed her eyes.

"It's my job to go after her, something's wrong and I want to fix it."

"I know," Santana said trying to placate the other girl, "but I've known her longer. If you go in there she'll yell at you. I can take it but it would upset you."

"She's right Q," Brittany chipped in as Quinn was about to protest, "why don't you let San do this her way? We can sit with Mr and Mr Berry and watch some tv," she finished brightly.

"Fine," Quinn huffed, and all three girls got out of the car and headed into the house.

Santana briefly said hi to Hiram and Leroy, who were both home early and looking baffled at their daughter charging past them and up the stairs. She then followed suit leaving them even more confused.

She knocked on Rachel's door earning a, "Go away Quinn."

The Latina grinned and opened the door, calling, "Guess again."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "I told you I was fine, why won't you just leave me alone," keeping the edge to her voice that it gained earlier.

Santana snorted at her as she responded, "I wonder why I don't believe you?"

"Believe me or not, it's the truth," Rachel said, raising her voice slightly and standing, marching towards her friend, "and I'd appreciate you giving some privacy when I ask for it."

"Well I'd appreciate Olivia Wilde to be waiting in my room but that's not happening either," the Latina replied rolling her eyes. "C'mon Shrimp, I know you. You don't get stressed out, you don't snap at your friends. Something's up and I wanna know what."

Rachel lost her defensive posture and slumped in on herself, sitting back down on her bed. "I don't know," she said, "I've just been having trouble sleeping, and everything just seems to have happened so quickly. Two weeks ago I had you, Finn, school and glee club. Now I've got Quinn, I'm still tutoring Brittany, me and Finn broke up and I need to tell my dad's about my new relationship," she was starting to get into her flow now and Santana let her, sensing she needed to get this out. "On top of all that, I'm worried about this new relationship. What if it's not right for me? Or Quinn? What if she gets bored of me? What if Finn never forgives me? What if you fall out with me for spending less time with you? What if this tutor doesn't help Brittany and she fails? What if -"

"Whoa, whoa," Santana said holding up her hands, sensing now was the time to interject, "this is all seriously hypothetical stuff Shrimp. I can't speak for everyone else but I will never abandon you, you should know that by now." The Latina moved to sit next to her friend on the bed and put her arm around her.

"I know," Rachel sighed, leaning into Santana's shoulder, "I just worry about everything right now."

"Well you don't need to," she replied, tightening her hold, "from what I can see Quinn's not going anywhere, Finn will come around and even if Brittany's tutor is total crap we'll all chip in and make sure she doesn't fail."

Rachel smiled at her, "I'm just being silly, aren't I?"

"No," Santana replied, "you're just putting too much pressure on yourself. You can't control everything you know. Everyone worries Rachel. I worry about what'll happen when Emilio gets out of jail, and I worry constantly about my mom, but there's nothing I can do about either of those things, so I just have to go with it and hope for the best."

"Ok, now I really feel dumb," the diva said, "you have all these real serious things to worry about and you mostly keep it together. I have some stupid dating worries and start losing it."

Santana shushed her, "You can't think like that, everyone deals with stress in their own way. You've just discovered you like girls, dumped your boyfriend for a girl and now you're gonna come out to your parents. Eventually, the school will probably find out. I'd say that gives you the right to worry. But if there's one thing I've learned lately it's that you can't deal with all of this yourself. Just talk it out, if you're worried about Quinn then talk to her. She told me about your late night texts. She didn't tell me what they said but maybe if you talked to her about your worries during the day you wouldn't have to keep both of you up all night. You know, unless it's for a good cause," she smirked, winking at Rachel.

The shorter girl laughed and gave her a shove. "You're disgusting,"

"You know it," she winked, "now let's go downstairs before Quinn rips my head off."

* * *

Rachel was getting seriously nervous. Santana had gone upstairs with Brittany to start on her Spanish homework, and she was left with Quinn in the living room. Her dads were both in the kitchen making dinner.

"So, are you feeling better now?" Quinn asked, concern in her eyes.

"A little," Rachel said, fidgeting slightly, "I need to talk to you about some stuff, but can I ask you a favour first?"

"Ask away," Quinn responded, smiling.

The brunette stared at the fireplace trying to think of how to word this, and figured the easiest way would be to just spit it out quickly. "I want to tell my dads tonight. About us, I mean."

"Ok," Quinn said, looking supremely unconcerned.

"Wait, you're fine with this?" Rachel asked incredulously.

Quinn smiled at her. "Of course, I mean it's not likely that your two gay dads are going to freak about their daughter dating another girl is it?"

Rachel smiled back then felt herself getting nervous. "When should we do it, do you think?"

The blonde stood up and offered the other girl her hand. "There's no time like the present," she said, winking at Rachel.

The brunette grinned up at Quinn and let herself be helped up. They both made their way to the kitchen, neither of them letting go of the other's hand.

"Dads, can we talk to you for a sec?" Rachel asked as they entered the kitchen. Luckily they'd finished cooking and had everything set on plates already.

"Sure sweetie," Hiram said, "what's up?"

_Quick like a band aid_ she chanted to herself, feeling the blonde next to her get a little tense. "I know you know that I ended things with Finn last week and am sure you're curious why."

"Maybe a little," Leroy said, "you both seemed to get on so well."

"We did, just not in the way we should," Rachel started, "when I really thought about it, I really only liked him as a friend, not as a boyfriend."

"Ok," Hiram frowned, "but judging how nervous you are I'd say there's more to it than that. And Quinn, you look like you've seen a ghost." The last part of his statement got quieter and more hesitant as he looked down and saw their joined hands. He sat down heavily at the kitchen island. "Oh," he said distantly.

Leroy looked across at his husband, concern in his eyes. "Honey, what is it, do you feel ill?"

Hiram tried to speak but couldn't, he just nodded his head at the two girls. Leroy frowned but looked back at them about to ask for an explanation. Then he spotted their joined hands as well. His eyes widened and he collapsed into the chair next to his husband. "Oh," he mimicked.

_Well, this is going great,_ Rachel's inner voice said snidely, _you broke your dads._

"Dad, daddy, please breathe. Say something. Say anything!"

Hiram was the first to recover. He shook off the shock and looked at his daughter. "Are you sure about this?"

"Of course," she said, although deep down she wasn't.

"And you," he said turning to Quinn, who jumped and turned pale over being addressed by the stern-looking man in front of her, "will you take care of our daughter?"

"Absolutely," the blonde said without hesitation, although she still looked terrified.

"Then I guess that's what matters," Leroy interjected. "Sorry about that girls, it just came as a bit of a shock."

"That's ok daddy," Rachel sighed with relief. She ran to him when he held out his arms for her. She heard movement from behind her and when she pulled away she saw that Quinn had been wrapped in her dad's arms. She was smiling slightly uncomfortably, but her posture had at least lost some of its stiffness.

The rest of the meal went well, and then Hiram and Leroy went to bed not long after as they were both on early starts the following morning. "No sneaking upstairs," Leroy said as they left, winking at the pair cuddled up on the sofa.

"Goodnight daddy," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. After they left, Quinn turned to face her.

"You said you needed to talk to me about something earlier?"

Rachel suddenly felt really nervous again. "Yeah I did. Are you sure you want to do this now?"

"Whatever it is that's bothering you, there's no point putting it off," Quinn said shrugging.

"Ok," Rachel took a deep breath and dove straight in. "I'm having a lot of worries lately. They've been affecting me pretty badly, I've been getting stressed out easier and I've had trouble sleeping, which I've never had before."

"I know," Quinn said, lacing their fingers together, "and if I'm the cause of any of this stress, tell me and I'll do what I can to make it go away."

"Thanks," Rachel said, genuinely grateful, "but it's not about you as such. Well actually I guess it kind of is." The blonde looked completely baffled by this. "I just mean, the things I've been worrying about aren't really things at all, they're hypothetical situations that may not even happen. Like, I'm worried that because this is a first for both of us, one of us will realise it's just a phase leaving the other broken-hearted."

"Oh," Quinn responded, sounding a little upset. "I guess that's fair, it is a concern."

"Do you think that might be what it is for you?" Rachel asked worriedly. She was almost completely certain that what she felt for Quinn was real, but she was very worried that the blonde may not be so sure.

The taller girl looked at her and tried to smile, but the brunette could still see a little bit of pain in her eyes. "I've never gone out with anyone that I felt anything at all for before," she responded, "none of my ex-boyfriends made me feel anything. All I know is that with you, I feel something for the first time ever. When we kissed it affected me so much my brain shut down," she managed a giggle, earning one back from Rachel. "I feel happy when I'm around you, and I want to be around you as much as possible. As far as I can tell, I think this is real for me."

Rachel smiled and leaned into Quinn, resting her head on her shoulder. "I was also a little concerned you might get bored of me," Rachel said.

"Are you crazy?" the blonde laughed. "You're the least boring person I know."

"I am pretty exciting," Rachel chuckled.

"You absolutely are," she said hearing Santana and Brittany talking and laughing quietly as they made their way downstairs.

* * *

Wednesday found Brittany stood nervously outside her English class. Her new tutor was going to meet her there, and she really didn't know what to expect. Fortunately she wasn't alone, the teacher had allowed Rachel to wait with her seeing as she was still technically her settling-in buddy.

"It'll be ok, Brittany," the brunette soothed, "this tutor is here to help you, and I'll be there for the whole lesson."

"I know, I'm just nervous meeting new people. Some people don't like the way I talk and act."

Rachel looked at her and smiled. "Anyone who doesn't give you a chance as you are doesn't deserve you Brittany, you're an incredible person. And your tutor will have experience of working with people with your conditions, so I'm sure they'll really help you."

Brittany smiled at her and looked up as she heard the sound of high heels moving towards her from down the hall. She saw Ms Pilsbury approaching, accompanied by an attractive dark-haired woman. Brittany frowned at her, she looked strangely familiar.

Ms Pilsbury and the woman came to a stop in front of Brittany and Rachel, smiling at them both. "Hi girls,"

"Hi Ms Pilsbury," Brittany said quietly suddenly feeling really nervous.

She nodded at them both then turned to the woman who came with her. "I'll leave you guys alone, I have a student coming in for an appointment in five minutes," and with that she was gone.

The woman looked at Brittany with a big smile, and held out her hand. "You must be Brittany. My name's Shelby Corcoran, I'll be your new tutor."

As she took Shelby's hand, she heard Rachel gasp, drop her things and sprint for the nearest restroom.

* * *

Quinn was sat with Santana in Biology class, barely listening. She'd spent the whole previous day thinking about the conversation she had with Rachel and her dads on Monday. Being introduced to them for the first time as her date was terrifying, but they were so wonderful and supportive that all her nerves disappeared in an instant. The talk she had with Rachel later however replaced the nerves with worry. She'd realised that while she'd reassured the brunette that her doubts were as low as they could be in the circumstances, she'd gotten no reassurance back. What if Rachel was doubting her feelings? What if she was trying to think of a way of letting her down gently? The rational part of her brain was telling her that this was nonsense, but the part that sounded suspiciously like her dad was saying otherwise.

"Yo, I'm not taking notes for you," Santana whispered, giving her a nudge, "pay attention."

"Sorry, just got a lot on my mind," the blonde said zoning back in. Santana nodded understandingly and went back to listening, making Quinn think maybe she knew something.

Quinn tried to keep up but she could barely bring herself to care. What if Rachel's doubts became too much? It wasn't even just the doubts, it was the fact that whenever the brunette got upset or worried it was always Santana she turned to first. Quinn was a little jealous about that scenario, she was the girl she was dating after all, was it too much to ask that she share things with her without the Latina prompting her?

The bell went for the end of the lesson, and both girls simultaneously checked their cell phones, as did everyone else including the teacher. The blonde scrunched up her eyebrows as she looked at the screen. She had over thirty missed calls. She looked across at Santana who looked similarly confused, and she already had the phone halfway to her ear. Seeing the look in Quinn's eyes, she mouthed _It's Rachel_ as her phone started to ring.

"Hey Shrimp what's up? – What? – I can't understand you Rachel, where are you? – Ok me and Quinn will be there in five, don't move."

"What's going on?" Quinn asked, starting to panic.

"It's Rachel, she sounded really weird," Santana responded, sounding as worried as Quinn felt, "she said she's in the choir room."

They both dashed over there and found Rachel sat at the piano stool, but she wasn't alone. Brittany had already found her way there, her arms wrapped around the sobbing girl looking completely bewildered.

"Hey Shrimp," Santana said dashing over. Quinn squashed down her jealousy when she saw the slightly happier look on Rachel's face when she saw her friend. Now was not the time for her pettiness.

"Hey Tana," she said weakly falling into the Latina's arms. She looked over her shoulder to see Quinn there and gave her a weak smile, making the blonde girl's jealousy disappear in an instant. She entered the room properly and walked over to the piano resting a hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"What's up beautiful?" she asked.

Rachel pulled herself out of Santana's arms and took a minute to get herself together, finally looking the Latina in the eyes. The Fabray siblings looked at each other, both of them baffled. "What happened?" Quinn asked Brittany.

"I don't know," the taller girl shrugged, "the new tutor came and introduced herself, and Rachel ran off. I asked Shelby if she knew what was up but she wouldn't tell me, she just looked kind of sad."

"Wait a minute. Shelby?" Santana chipped in, looking at Rachel, "as in Shelby Corcoran?"

"Yeah," Brittany answered looking even more confused, "why, who is she?"

"She's my mom," Rachel said quietly.


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: Ok people, competition time is here . The Rules are your answer MUST be in a PM, NOT a review (am not using this as a shameless fish for reviews!), the first correct answer will get their OC added to the fic, I want a name and some slight appearance and personality description, that's it! I reserve the right to use your OC however I see fit. All clear? Great, here's your question:**

**- In the last chapter, Santana came out with the phrase _"Well I'd appreciate Olivia Wilde to be waiting in my room but that's not happening either"_, which I paraphrased from the line _"Well I'd like to kick with Beyonce instead of my wife tonight, but that's not happening either" _from a very popular American TV show. Name that show!**

**Now on with the story…**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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**Chapter 20**

A week after Shelby's reappearance, the girls were at the Berry's. It was the night before Sectionals, and they'd decided to have an impromptu sleepover, with cheesy movies and snacks. Brittany and Quinn had just arrived, the former heading straight for the fridge for a soda, the latter launching herself onto the sofa next to Rachel. The two of them automatically curled up into each other. Santana, who'd let them both in, followed Quinn into the living.

"If you two were any more sickly sweet you'd be vomiting rainbows," she stated rolling her eyes.

"Oh please, you're just jealous Tana," Rachel rolled her eyes right back and nuzzled into the blonde draped across her.

Santana was going to comment back, but decided against it. This was the most relaxed and playful the diva had been in a week, and she'd be damned if she was the cause of her reverting to her mopey self. Not only did it upset her to see her friend look so lost, but it was having a toll on the rest of them too. Brittany was getting frustrated that she couldn't cheer the brunette up (probably because for the first time in her life, nothing she did worked) and Quinn was getting more frustrated by the day that Rachel wouldn't talk to her. The Latina hated to admit it, but she could understand why. For all her reservations about the shorter Fabray twin, she seemed to genuinely adore Rachel and Santana understand her frustration at being shut out.

Brittany entered the room from the kitchen, tossing a soda to everyone and making herself comfortable in an armchair. Santana was distracted from thoughts of her friend the second she entered. She was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate when she shared a room with the dancer, but was still non the wiser as to what she should do about the situation. Every fibre of her being was screaming at her to ask her out, but there was still the nagging remnants of gay panic in her brain telling her it would ruin her life.

The taller blonde had improved massively at school in the last week, Shelby seemed to be really helping her (Santana grudgingly admitted), and the other three girls didn't need to help her out nearly as much any more. She'd also been to the Dietician the previous week, who'd told Judy to cut down the sugar in her diet to aid with her ADHD. Santana belatedly realised she probably shouldn't be chugging down that soda, but it was a bit late now.

They settled down to watch the first movie, and Santana was bored within half an hour. It was Rachel's choice and unsurprisingly it was a musical. It was one of the many that the Latina had been forced to watch an infinite number of times so she could recite it by heart, and her attention started to wander. Brittany seemed to be enraptured by it, Quinn was watching with interest, obviously unfamiliar with the story. Rachel was watching too, but Santana noticed the lost and hurt look from the previous week had returned to her eyes.

After the movie ended, Brittany and Quinn offered to go on a food run, and Santana decided enough was enough. She followed Rachel into the kitchen and dove straight in.

"So, have you talked to her yet?"

Rachel jumped a foot in the air. "Santana, you scared me! I'm going to have to get you a bell if you insist on sneaking up on me," she joked half-heartedly.

"Don't do that Shrimp," she said folding her arms across her chest, "you can't distract me. Did you talk to Shelby yet, ask her why she decided to just pop back up again?"

"No and I'm not going to," Rachel replied looking at the floor, "she obviously didn't come back for me."

Santana shrugged. "I'm not suggesting she did, I'm just curious as to why she decided to show her selfish ass again after all this time."

"It's her job, Tana," the diva stated, meeting her friend's eyes, "I can't control where she ends up."

The Latina stared at her in disbelief. "You honestly think it's just coincidence she's here? You think, in the whole state of Ohio, Brittany is the only kid who needs help, or that Shelby's the only tutor who can help her? Don't you think it's weird within days of Britt's test she shows up when that tester guy told Quinn it could take weeks? I'm telling you she requested to come here, and I can't believe you're not more curious as to why."

Rachel looked annoyed then, and the Latina was actually happy because it meant at least she didn't look lost. "Of course I've thought all of that but after what happened last time you'll forgive me if I'm a little reluctant to talk to her. Or about her for that matter."

"And what about Quinn?" Santana pressed.

"What about her?" Rachel snapped. "This has nothing to do with her, I don't want her dragged into it."

"The Hell it's nothing to do with her," the Latina stared her friend down until she was forced to look away again, "she's your girl and from the look on her face lately she sure doesn't feel like it. You can't just shut her out, she needs you as much as you need her," she said then a little more gently.

"I know," Rachel replied in a small voice, "it's just hard, I'm not really used to talking things out with anyone but you."

Santana walked to her and wrapped her in a hug. "You know I'll always be here for you Shrimp. But if you really care about her you need to start trusting her. And you need to face Shelby at some point."

"I will eventually," she said in a slightly muffled voice, "I'm just not ready yet." She pulled out of the hug, and looked at Santana with a glint in her eyes. "And what about you and Brittany?"

"What about it?" Santana retorted, jumping on the defensive.

"Oh please," Rachel snorted, "you can't push me to deal with my stuff then ignore your own. When are you going to tell her how you really feel?"

"She already knows," Santana shrugged, giving up the pretence. After all, it was pointless around the diva, she knew her too well. "I'm just waiting for the right moment to talk about it. With everything going on right now, it doesn't really seem right."

Rachel pulled out of the hug and grabbed herself a drink, smiling at the Latina over her shoulder. "You do realise the perfect moment will probably never come right? And the longer you leave it, the more time you give someone else to ask her out."

Santana was immediately alert. "Who else might ask her? What have you heard? It's one of the football dicks ain't it? Gah, I knew it, I've screwed up!"

"Woah, calm down Tana," Rachel said putting down her soda and throwing her hands up. "As far as I know, no one is imminently going to ask her. But let's face it, she's a gorgeous blonde cheerleader, so it's only a matter of time. It's clear she really likes you but she won't wait forever."

"Then why doesn't she just ask me," Santana pouted, "why do I have to be the one to ask?"

"Santana Maria Lopez," the diva placed her hands on her hips. The Latina thought she looked an awful lot like the pictures of Peter Pan from one of her old kids books. "She won't ask because after how you reacted to the kiss she isn't sure you're ok with everything, she's letting you set the pace. But like I said she won't wait forever, so move your butt and ask her already!"

"I'm working on it," Santana said casually, sipping her own drink and leaning on the worktop. Rachel stamped her foot at her and stormed to the living room. "I'll give you an 8.5 for that storm out," Santana laughed, following her.

* * *

"So how's the tutoring going?" Quinn asked her sister as they drove back to Rachel's.

"Q you've asked me that like, a million times," Brittany replied, helping herself to a bag of chips, "it's going great, I actually understand what the teachers are saying, and the words don't seem as jumbled any more.

"That's great B," Quinn said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She was hoping that Shelby had let something slip to her sister. It was obvious Rachel wasn't comfortable around her mother, but she wouldn't talk to her about it so she was basically grasping at straws trying to work out what was going on.

"She hasn't said anything," Brittany supplied almost reading her sister's thoughts, "I can tell she's sad, but she only every talks to me about lesson stuff and makes sure I'm doing my homework."

Quinn just shrugged and kept her eyes on the road. "It bothers me that she won't talk to me about it," she said eventually, "I've tried to be open with her about how I'm feeling which isn't easy for me, but it's almost like she doesn't trust me. I just wish I knew what was going on, it's obviously something big because she freaks out whenever she sees Shelby in the halls at school and drags me in the opposite direction."

"Have you told her all this?" Brittany asked.

"Not in so many words," Quinn confessed, "but I've made it pretty obvious I want in."

"Then be more obvious," Brittany stated like it was the easiest thing in the world, "it's up to her how much she tells you Q, but if you're feeling left out you should tell her."

"I know," she sighed, "it's just hard. We've only been together a couple weeks, I don't want her to think I'm being demanding or clingy. I mean she's not even officially my girlfriend yet."

Brittany looked across at her sister and smiled. "You only get what you want if you ask for it, the worst she'll do is listen to your side of things and make you wait a little longer, and that's not so bad, right?"

"I guess," Quinn sighed, "it just sucks B. I want her to trust me like she trusts Santana."

"That's what this is really about huh?" her sister asked shrewdly. "It's that she opens up to Santana and not you."

Quinn looked suddenly annoyed. "Wouldn't it bother you if your girl talked one of her friends more than you?" she snapped.

"Maybe a little," Brittany shrugged, "but I'd try to understand, especially if we hadn't been together long. She's known Santana for most of her life, it's natural for Rachel to open up to her. I'm not saying that makes it right," she said sensing Quinn getting stressed, "but it's what she's used to. You need to be clear to her that she can trust you, that she can rely on you as much as Santana."

* * *

Brittany and Quinn had returned armed to the teeth with snacks (all vegan friendly of course). They'd just finished the second movie, courtesy of Pixar at Brittany's request, and Santana went to Skype with her brother. She'd spoken to him when he came to visit their mother, and he'd all but demanded she keep their Skype date this week, they'd decided via text it would be tonight.

Almost as soon as she logged in she saw the incoming button flashing from Rico and answered it.

"Eager much?" she teased.

"Well you did promise," he smiled. "How are you sis?"

"I'm pretty good, how's LA?"

He smiled, and settled into his chair. "Hot and dusty. Sometimes I miss a good Ohio Winter."

"Take that back," she teased, "we'll switch if you miss it that much."

"No thanks," he laughed, "I'm done with high school drama. How's Mama?"

She shrugged. "Leroy said she's settling in ok, they won't let her have visitors till next week, but he managed to talk them into letting him see her. He said she seemed pretty calm, and the therapy was going well. It's still early days but so far so good."

"Awesome," he said sighing in relief, then he smiled and straightened in his chair, "your big competition is tomorrow, right? You ready?"

"Please, I'm gonna blow them away," she said, more cockily than she felt.

"Course you are, you're my sister," he said proudly. "Listen I'm sorry I can't be there, my boss is being a hard ass and won't let me take any more time off."

"It's cool," she said waving off his apology, "the Berry's will be there, and Brittany and Quinn's mom."

"Is that the two hot blonde chicks I met last time I came up? Is the tall one single, she was smokin'!"

"She's still in high school you perv," she said feeling her cheeks flame. _Oh well, it's now or never_, she thought. "Listen Rico, there's something I need to tell you and it won't be easy for me so I need to keep quiet and listen while I get through it."

"This sounds ominous," he said looking concerned, "should I be worried? Is there some guy who's ass I should be kicking?"

"No it's nothing bad," she said and sighed, "at least I hope not." She stared at the screen and saw her brother calm down and sit patiently waiting for her to go on. She look a breath and said it fast, like ripping of a band aid. "I'm gay."

The reaction she got was a surprise to say the least. He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Tell me something I don't know." Her jaw dropped so rapidly she was momentarily worried it had dislocated. "That was your big news, seriously?" he laughed, "whenever I come back and catch myself checking out some girl or other I look across and you're doing the exact same thing. I knew you were gay. And FYI, not subtle."

"You knew," she said eventually, finally using her words, "you knew all this time? Why didn't you say anything!"

He shrugged, "I just figured you'd tell me when you were ready. I'm honoured you did by the way, I'm sorry if I sounded like a total jackass."

She laughed from sheer relief and released nerves, "I've never been happier that you're my brother," she said trying not to cry. When she looked in his eyes she noticed some moisture there too, he was obviously trying to hold back.

"So who's the lucky girl you're ready to bust out of the closet for finally?" he said when he got himself together.

"Remember the tall smokin' blonde?" she winked at him.

"WHAT?" he screamed. "You _have_ to tap that. For both of us, sis."

"You're now officially the world's creepiest older brother," she shuddered, "I haven't even asked her out yet."

"What the hell are you waiting for?" he all but screeched. "Have you seen her? She ain't gonna be on the market for long sis!"

"You sound just like a more perverted version of Rachel. She as good as said the same thing to me a few hours ago."

"At least someone down in Lima has some sense," he muttered, "seriously you need to ask her before someone else does."

"And I'll tell you what I told Shrimp," she winked at him, "I'm working on it."

* * *

Rachel's dads got home around midnight and immediately shooed the girls to bed. Rachel and Quinn would be in her room (door open, obviously) and Brittany and Santana would be in the guest room. For the first time since they got together, Rachel was worried about being alone with Quinn. Something had been bothering the blonde since she got back from the food run with Brittany. She'd even seemed distracted when she congratulated Santana on coming out to her brother.

Rachel had been accused in the past of being a little self-centred, but she wasn't stupid enough to think the blonde's behaviour wasn't her fault to a degree, she'd been shutting her out a lot this past week.

"Quinn, are you ok?" she asked already knowing the answer.

The blonde's shoulders slumped. "Not really. I need to talk to you about something," she said taking a seat on the bed.

"I figured as much," Rachel smiled weakly and sat down next to her.

"I just feel like you're constantly shutting me out, Rach," Quinn said, looking hurt. "I don't expect you to tell me everything, but it's like you don't even trust me with small stuff."

"I'd hardly call the situation with my mom 'small stuff'," Rachel snorted, and immediately knew she'd said the wrong thing. Quinn's eyes narrowed.

"Maybe not, but I don't even know the basics. The most you've told me is the she's you're mom and I get the feeling you wouldn't even have told me that if you could get away with it," she snapped.

"Quinn calm down, I'm sorry I didn't mean it to come out like that," Rachel pleaded.

Quinn slumped and stared at the floor. "I don't understand what I've done to make you not trust me."

"It's not like that," Rachel said helplessly, "I do trust you, I'm just so used to running to Santana when I have a problem. You know I haven't even told my dad's she's back, right?"

"But you should be able to tell me," Quinn practically begged, "if you can tell Santana, you can tell me. Don't you think it's weird that you tell her and not me?"

Rachel started to get angry herself. "Don't you dare make this about Santana. I've known her since I was five, we've been through everything together."

She saw the look in Quinn's eyes when she looked up and knew that once again she'd said the wrong thing. "I don't care how long you've known her or what you've been through, I know you're not my girlfriend yet but we are together, and all I'm asking is that you not shut me out, why can't you do that?"

"Because it's too hard," Rachel said raising her voice, "I didn't even talk to Finn about this stuff, everyone at school leaves me alone because they know Santana would beat the crap out of them if they did but they doesn't make them my friends. The only person who's ever completely been there for me is her, I'm not used to this, I'm not used to having someone else want to talk to me or help me, I just don't know what to do." She was nearly in tears.

Quinn dove at her and wrapped her in a hug. "Shh, it's ok. I'm sorry Rach, I didn't mean to push you."

"It's ok," Rachel said holding back the sobs, "you were right, I should confide in you." She chuckled humourlessly. "The irony of this situation is that Santana told me to talk to you about this, she said you had a right to know."

Quinn let out a chuckle herself. "Who knew she'd be on my side, huh?"

Rachel let the blonde hold her till she calmed down. She pulled out of the hug then and stayed sat next to her. Quinn put her arm around her shoulders and she couldn't help but lean into her, letting herself be comforted.

"Shelby's my birth mother," she started, "but she was only ever meant to be a surrogate. When I was little, I imagined spending time with her and us doing things together even though we'd never met. My dad's never talked about her and I never asked, I didn't want them to think I didn't love them."

She felt Quinn tense next to her, obviously scared she might do or say the wrong thing and make Rachel stop talking. The brunette stroked her arm to reassure her, and continued when she felt her relax. "When I started middle school she just appeared. She started working there as a tutor. She came and found me after one of my lessons and asked to talk to me. She told me who she was and that she wanted to get to know me, if I was willing. So most afternoons I'd eat lunch with her and we'd just talk. When Santana found out what was going on, she insisted on coming with me. She never really liked her or trusted her, but I begged her not to tell my dads and she didn't.

"One day I went to her class at lunch to eat with her and she wasn't there. When I asked one of the teachers where she was, he told me she'd left suddenly, called the school and moved to tutor elsewhere. She'd given me her cellphone number in case I ever needed her, but when I called, it wasn't in service. She'd skipped town and changed her number, she didn't warn me or tell me she was going or anything," Rachel said brokenly, trying not to cry again, "she just disappeared." She couldn't hold back any more and started to cry in earnest, burying herself into Quinn's side.

Quinn wrapped her arms around her again and just held her in silence, not offering any opinion or comment just being there, which Rachel was incredibly grateful for. She cried for about half an hour before she got herself under control again.

"Has she tried to talk to you since she came back?" Quinn asked. She didn't sound angry, just curious.

"No, she seems to be keeping her distance," Rachel replied croakily, helping herself to a bottle of water from the mini fridge in her room.

"I can understand that," the blonde muttered. "Do you want to talk to her?" she asked a little louder.

"I don't know, maybe," Rachel replied, her voice less raspy now she'd had a drink. "Part of me wants to hear her explanation. But then I worry that she'll just tell me that she changed her mind, that I wasn't good enough for her and that's why she left."

"I doubt that," Quinn said quietly, still holding her, "the fact that she left so suddenly suggests that she had to because of some emergency. Did you have any hint something was up?"

"I don't really remember," Rachel shrugged, "I was only a kid then. From what I remember she seemed the same as always. I never imagined she'd just vanish."

"And changing her number, did that seem like the type of thing she'd do?" the blonde pressed.

"Well no," Rachel said, getting a little defensive, "but who would imagine someone would do something like that to you, least of all your own mother?"

"I wasn't trying to be offensive," Quinn said, rubbing circles on the brunette's shoulder, "it just doesn't make any sense. She found you and offered to be in your life. From what you said she didn't seem to regret it at any point, but then she just left. Do you think maybe someone chased her away?"

"I don't know," Rachel said, getting upset again, "all I know is my mom was there one minute then completely gone the next."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Quinn said soothingly, "I'm just trying to understand."

"Well if you ever do let me know, because I don't." Rachel leaned into the blonde again and stared into space.

"I think you need to try talking to her," Quinn said after a little while, "you deserve to know the truth and she's the only one who can give it to you. You're not going to be able to rest until you know, and it looks like she's gonna be here for all of this school year and probably the next so you can't avoid each other forever."

"I know. I'm just scared she'll reject me."

Quinn held her tighter then. "Call this a hunch but I don't think she will," then she smirked, "and if she does, she's gonna have an angry Latina and two pissed off blonde sisters to deal with. We'll go all kinds of crazy on her."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh at that.


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N 1: Thanks for the competition entries guys! Unfortunately there can be only one winner, and that winner is – OTHGG24! Congratulations! Zack, your OC, will be getting introduced shortly, he gets a brief mention in this chapter but won't be introduced properly till the next one.**

**A/N 2: As mentioned I am now updating as and when I get the chance, so while there was a big wait for the last chapter you're getting this one within 24 hours. I know this is confusing but my job is so antisocial, regular updates are all but impossible.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

Rachel was pacing nervously in the car park outside McKinley. The bus to Sectionals was there but, unsurprisingly, Mr Schue hadn't made his appearance yet. Everyone was either looking as nervous as Rachel and pacing or, like Puck and Santana, feigning indifference leaning against the bus and engaging in casual conversation. The diva knew at least in Santana's case that this was a complete act. She'd spent most of the morning before they set out with Brittany and Quinn trying to calm her down. This was her first time taking a solo in competition and she was completely freaked out. They'd just about managed to reassure her that she'd be great and get her in the car, and now she was acting like it never happened.

Quinn on the other hand, was currently in the middle of her own freak out. She was crouched on the floor by Rachel's car looking like she was about to vomit. Rachel figured talking to her was better than letting her own nerves take over so strolled over as casually as possible.

"How're you holding up?" she asked the blonde as she sat down next to her.

"I can't do this," came the faint reply, "I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't do this."

"Of course you can," Rachel urged, "you have a beautiful voice." She was proud of herself for not announcing that it was occasionally pitchy and sharp. Now was clearly not the time. Maybe later.

"Not as beautiful as yours," Quinn said looking into the brunette's eyes, "they'll think you're just dragging me along, I'll sound ridiculous next to you."

Rachel tried not to preen at the compliment, after all this was about calming her girl down, and the abject terror in those gorgeous hazel eyes was starting to scare her a little too.

"Quinn, we have rehearsed and rehearsed this. After only one night of practice Mercedes of all people ceded that we deserved the duet more than she did. I know you haven't been here that long but that's a big deal. She didn't do that because of just my voice, she did it because of how well our voices go together, because we sound amazing together. And we've rehearsed it a lot more since then, believe me when I say we sound as close to perfect as it's possible to get, and that's down to your voice as much as mine."

"I love it when you rant," Quinn smiled through watery eyes, "if the others weren't here I'd kiss you senseless right now."

"I'll hold you to that later," Rachel winked, "now let's go back to the bus, I think I just saw Mr Schue's car."

They linked arms and headed back towards the others, not really paying attention to anything. Rachel looked at Santana and was immediately clued in that something wasn't right. The Latina looked uncharacteristically pale and like she was about to punch someone. "Tana what's wrong?" she asked as they approached. The Latina didn't reply verbally, she nodded in the direction of Mr Schue's car. Walking over with him was non other than Shelby, looking extremely uncomfortable as he chattered animatedly next to her.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The diva was shocked at the language coming from Quinn. She'd seen Shelby too and Rachel distantly wondered what would happen if she unlinked their arms and released the blonde because the look on her face was murderous.

"If that bitch thinks she's coming with us she's got another thing coming. I'm about to show her how we do things in Lima Heights," Santana seethed taking a step forwards.

Rachel used her free arm to restrain the Latina, while trying to maintain a grip on Quinn who was also straining to get away. "Guys, no. If she wants to come I can't stop her and you two getting violent with her isn't going to help anything," she whispered urgently to both of them, "I know you want to protect me but this is my problem, and I'll deal with it my way."

Santana stared at her incredulously but at least stopped trying to get at Shelby. On her other side Quinn settled as well. "Are you kidding Shrimp? That bitch being around school has had you out of it for nearly a week, now you're saying we should just let her trail along to Sectionals with us?"

"Santana's right, Rach," Quinn chimed in, "it won't be good for you to have her there."

"No one here knows she's my mom and I don't want them to either," Rachel stated, "if you go over there and ask her to leave everyone's going to be curious as to why, and I won't be able to field the questions. If she wants to come along let her, I for one won't let it affect my performance. And as I said it's my problem to deal with not yours, and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Santana huffed for a minute. She knew the Latina would be the more difficult to convince, after all she'd been there the first time around. "Fine. But if she even thinks about approaching you, I'll rip her tits off." With that she marched back over to stand by Puck at the side of the bus.

"Angry Santana's a little scary," Quinn noted uneasily, "even I wouldn't go that far."

"You were the one saying I should hear Shelby out last night, what changed?" Rachel asked the blonde curiously.

Quinn ran a hand through her hair and looked in Rachel's eyes. "I didn't really think after what happened she'd try and force her presence on you, I can't say I like that she's coming to Sectionals with us."

"Neither do I," Rachel confessed, "but I refuse to let it distract me."

Things settled down a little more when they arrived at their destination. Mr Schue had announced that he'd asked some of the other teachers to chaperone if they were available, but no one wanted to volunteer (Quinn told her she'd overheard Sue threatening to poison anyone who volunteered) and Shelby had jumped at the chance when he asked her a few days ago. Rachel made a point to sit as far away from her as possible, both on the bus and when they arrived at the venue. Shelby, oddly enough, hadn't made any attempt to talk to her.

It was announced they would be on second, behind Dalton Academy and ahead of Oral Intensity (a name which even Rachel couldn't resist a snigger at). She gave a motivational captain's speech when they reached the green room, pointing out they are considerably better than last year when they took Sectionals with relative ease.

Then they were announced to go on stage, and she took her place with Quinn behind the curtain. It had been decided they would start with the duet, just Quinn and Rachel on stage. Then they'd go into Santana's solo, backed up by the club. No one had come up with anything better than her performance of Fallin' For You, and with a bit of tweaking they'd made it sound like it was made for her. They were to close with the group performance of Beautiful Day by U2, the guys taking the lead on that one with the girls harmonizing like crazy on the chorus and an incredible dance routine led by Mike and Brittany.

When the curtain came up and she started to sing, all the nerves in her melted away as she realised she was exactly where she was born to be – up on stage, working an audience. She couldn't help but swept up in it, and she'd never been prouder of Quinn. The blonde kept up with her beautifully and swept across the stage with the natural grace that took the diva's breath away. The song ended and they both moved to their marks as Santana made her way to the front and the rest of the club stood behind her. The raw emotion in her voice brought more than a few audience members to tears, and the quiet harmony from everyone complimented the Latina's voice beautifully.

After that it was down to the group performance, and the guys led the team through it brilliantly. They hit every mark (even Finn), and the choreography, while not the most energetic or envelope-pushing, fit the song perfectly and played to everyone's strengths. When the song came to a close, the audience were on their feet, and Rachel caught a glimpse of her dads jumping up and down with excitement, Leroy turning and lifting Judy off her feet who'd been bouncing around just as much as them.

When they ran off stage, she had to restrain herself from kissing Quinn senseless, and instead had to settle for a hug. "Rach you were incredible," the blonde muttered quietly into her hair.

"We were incredible," Rachel said, pulling out of the hug and smiling shyly at the blonde.

Quinn was about to speak, but she was suddenly lifted off the floor from behind by Sam, who spun her around and dragged her off to the others, beckoning Rachel to follow. "You guys were awesome," he enthused, putting the blonde down, "like, seriously awesome!"

"Thank you Sam," Quinn said warmly, giving him a hug. Rachel spotted her whisper something in his ear and he blushed, slinking off to Puck and Finn who were currently hi-fiving and chest bumping.

"What was that about?" the diva asked curiously

Quinn smirked at her. "I was just pointing out to him that a certain other diva couldn't take her eyes off him.

"You mean he hadn't noticed?" Rachel asked incredulously. "Mercedes is hardly subtle about it."

"Well he knows now, maybe we can be responsible for another glee couple," Quinn smiled.

About fifteen minutes after Oral Intensity's performance, the teams were called on stage. It came as a surprise to no one that New Directions won. As they left the stage the Dalton Academy Warbler's captain, Blaine something, came over to graciously congratulate her and Finn. She couldn't help but notice him eyeing Kurt speculatively and Kurt seemed more than a little interested himself. It seemed like more than one couple may come out of this competition.

As they headed back to the bus, Rachel noticed Shelby dragging her heels at the back. She told Quinn, Santana and Brittany to gone without her and headed towards her.

"Shelby," she said, and the head of the older woman who she looked so much like shot up at the sound of the voice.

"Rachel," she choked out, "you look well."

"As well as can be expected," the diva replied, trying and failing to keep the bite out of her voice. "Do my dad's know you're here?" she asked and saw the woman wince.

"No. I've managed to avoid them."

Rachel nodded. "Good. Just so you know though, they'll probably be waiting by the bus."

"Noted," Shelby replied, "I'll take a cab back to McKinley, tell Will I'm claustrophobic or something."

Rachel just nodded and watched her walk away. _It's now or never_. "Why did you do it?" She called after her.

Shelby stopped walking and turned to face her again. Rachel could relate to how broken the older woman looked, she probably looked similar herself. "I can't tell you," Shelby said holding back tears, "you have no idea how much I wish I could, but I can't."

"So what, you can't explain why you came into my life, made me care about you, then disappeared with no way for me to contact you?"

"Please Rachel," Shelby begged, "please understand I didn't want to, I had to. I can't tell you any more than that."

"Ok fine," Rachel said, keeping a firm grip on her temper, "but if you had to go away, why have you come back? Why couldn't you just stay away?"

"I – I can't do this Rachel, I'm sorry." The diva had never had anyone flee from her before. She hoped no one ever would again. She just barely reined in the tears, put her show face on, and went to greet her friends and real parents by the bus.

* * *

Brittany, not for the first time, was having difficulty paying attention in class the next day. Not for the same reasons as usual though. With much prompting from Quinn and Santana, Rachel had told them about her confrontation with Shelby after Sectionals. Santana was angry and Brittany and Rachel between them were just barely able to calm her down. Quinn seemed more curious about the situation, wondering why Shelby would come to McKinley if she wouldn't talk to Rachel.

Brittany was confused. Usually she was pretty good at reading people, but Shelby was one of those rare people who could throw up a wall and hide everything behind it. She made Quinn look like an amateur. The taller blonde had no idea what she was thinking or feeling no matter how hard she tried to read her expression.

After English class before she headed off to lunch, Brittany decided to bite the bullet. "Shelby, can I ask you something?"

"Of course Brittany, what is it?"

"Why won't you talk to Rachel?" She saw the older woman's shoulders tense and knew she was about to get angry, but she ploughed on regardless. "She told us about Sectionals last night. I know it's probably none of my business but she's my friend and I don't like to see her upset."

"She was upset?" Shelby asked, deflating.

_Of course she was upset, her mom ran away from her. Again,_ Brittany thought, but decided to keep it to herself, it wouldn't help the situation after all. Instead she just nodded.

"I can't tell her, I'm not strictly supposed to even talk to her," the woman sighed defeatedly.

"But you can talk to me," Brittany said shrewdly, "and you don't exactly control who I talk to."

Shelby looked up hopefully, then her eyes lowered dejectedly again. "It's too much of a risk. And I refuse to get you involved in this. Just know that if I was allowed to talk to her, I would in a heartbeat."

"So you're not allowed to talk to her?"

"If she talks to me I can but I can't seek her out, and I can't tell her anything about why I left before. Not without permission anyway," she muttered angrily.

"Permission from who?" Brittany asked, thoroughly confused now.

"Forget I said anything," Shelby said shaking her head. She looked down at her watch. "If you don't hurry you'll miss lunch," she said, then walked away.

Brittany shook her head and headed to the cafeteria. Why couldn't people be simpler? She couldn't understand why a mother would be banned from seeing her daughter. Quinn had told her everything (with Rachel's permission) but she still couldn't grasp why Shelby wouldn't be allowed near Rachel.

She met Santana by the entrance to the cafeteria and apologised for being late. She decided to tell Santana about what Shelby had said once they were sat down. Rachel and Quinn were eating together on the bleachers today so they could talk more privately. They got their food and sat at a free table.

Brittany had been so wrapped up thinking about Shelby it took her a while to notice how agitated Santana seemed. She couldn't sit still and wouldn't meet the blonde's eyes. "Are you ok San?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," the normally composed Latina replied. She made an effort to sit still and meet the blonde's eyes, but she still looked almost scared of something.

"Are you sure?" Brittany pressed. She had an idea what was wrong but refused to outright ask the other girl. It was up to her to move at her own pace.

"Of course," Santana said, "just a long morning." She seemed to settle down a little and started to eat her lunch. Brittany internally sighed. She knew the Latina was becoming more and more uncomfortable around her especially when they were alone together, but there was nothing she could do about it. After everything that happened between them she refused to make Santana move at a pace she was uncomfortable with.

Brittany decided to distract her from her discomfort by telling her about her conversation with Shelby.

"That doesn't make sense, they can't ban parents from seeing their own kids, can they? At least not unless they'd done something seriously bad," Santana said narrowing her eyes dangerously.

Brittany couldn't help but smile at the Latina's over-protectiveness. "Do you really think they'd let her work in a school if she'd done something that bad?"

Santana sighed and slumped a little in her seat. "I guess not. It's just weird."

"I know, I can't work it out myself. And I'm normally good at this type of stuff," Brittany replied glumly.

After that they drifted back to casual conversation about school, the weather, awful cafeteria food and Puck's celebratory party that night. Santana quickly became nervous and twitchy again, and Brittany almost pulled her hair out in frustration. She absolutely adored Santana, but she was quickly getting tired of waiting.

* * *

Finn was starting to feel a little sorry for Sam. After football practice, he'd mentioned to the other guys that Quinn had told him she thought Mercedes was into him, and had asked them if they thought it was true. The taller boy would always be the first to admit that he could be dense at times, but even he'd noticed the way the outspoken diva undressed the blonde boy with her eyes.

The resultant teasing had lasted most of practice, and Finn had taken pity on him and dragged him aside to talk to him in private after practice. "What's up?" Sam asked when they were relatively alone.

"Nothin' really, you just looked like you needed rescuing before you turned permanently red."

"Thanks," Sam said smiling in relief. "So, everyone noticed but me, huh?"

"Kinda," Finn shrugged, "she wasn't exactly subtle about it dude."

"I've never been able to spot girls checking me out," Sam just shrugged, "I was pretty much a total geek at my last school, so it wasn't really much of an issue," he chuckled.

"Yeah I never get it either, and I've been on the football team for most of my school life," Finn smiled, "when I asked Rachel out I didn't really think she liked me, I was shocked as hell when she said yes."

"How're you doing with that, man?" Sam asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I dunno," he shrugged, "sometimes I'm really bummed we're not together any more, but then I guess I'm just happy she's with someone who makes her really happy now. I mean it's better than her moving on with some total douche, right?"

"Yeah," Sam said. They'd both already discussed the situation with Rachel and Quinn already a few times. Unfortunately they didn't realise Puck and Mike were listening into their conversation from behind them.

"Hey Zack," Sam hailed the tall blonde boy who was in his year. Zack was another transfer student and had got on the team as Wide Receiver after tryouts at the start of the year. He didn't really talk much and most of the guys on the team avoided him, but he seemed to get on well with Sam.

"Hey Sam," he replied in his deep, quiet voice, "what's up?"

"Not much. You goin' to Puck's party tonight?"

"I didn't know there was one," he mumbled.

"Sorry man, I just assumed the other guys would've told you," Puck said, catching up, "you wanna come?"

"Sure," he said, "I'll ask my mom but it should be ok."

"You can't miss this," Puck grinned at him, "the Puckasaurus' parties are legendary. Plus every single Cheerio and hot chick at this school will be there, so it's a guarantee for getting laid."

Zack blushed and muttered something about needing to get home, and literally sprinted away from Puck, who laughed his ass off. "That boy needs to get laid," he choked out.

"Give him a break," Finn said, "he probably just needs to cut loose a little. It's not like any of the guys on the team have made an effort with him other than Sam."

"What does he expect," Puck defended, "he never opens his mouth." That earned him a nudge and a glare from Mike. "Don't look at me like that, you're different. You're just…Mike." The mohawked boy looked at Finn then and narrowed his eyes. "Speaking of getting laid, when do you plan on jumping back in the saddle? You and the Jew-Babe have been broken up for a few weeks now, why aren't you hopping on the nearest chick?"

"Come on dude, you know I'm not like that," Finn deflected, "I'm not interested in hooking up with some random cheerleader who's only into me because I'm the Quarter Back."

"Why else would they be into you?" Puck teased, nudging Finn with his shoulder. "Seriously you need to be less picky.

Finn just smiled along with the others, knowing he'd never settle for a pretty face with air between her ears.

* * *

Quinn drove Brittany home after Cheerios practice. Rachel had stayed behind to wait for Santana and take her home. She insisted Quinn would have to go home, she needed to finish her homework and get ready for the party. Quinn wondered if it was normal that she missed the brunette already.

"So, what did you get up to at lunch with Santana?" she asked as casually as she could manage. She'd finally talked Rachel into nixing 'Operation Brittana', but the diva had only agreed on the condition that they both continue to monitor the situation and step in if it became necessary.

"We just talked," Brittany shrugged, "about the weather mostly," she muttered almost to herself.

"Everything ok with you two?" Quinn asked, sensing her sister becoming tense.

Brittany sighed. "I just wish she'd ask me out already, it's starting to annoy me."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Quinn asked, genuinely curious. It wasn't like her sister to wait around if she decided she wanted something.

"I can't," she replied dejectedly, "after what happened last time I'm scared she'll freak out again."

"Understandable I guess," Quinn said thoughtfully. "Why don't you hint at her that you want her to ask you?"

"I've tried," Brittany said sadly, "she doesn't seem to get it. And I can't be any less subtle without asking her out myself."

Quinn nodded and they both drifted into silence, there wasn't really anything else to say.

When they got home, they were met by a strange sight. Judy was heading in the living room in her best dress and jewellery.

"Mom, what's going on?" Quinn asked curiously.

"Oh girls, I was just about to call you. You know Mark who I met at church?" They both nodded in response. Mark was a middle-aged man who owned his own café. He'd been friendly with Judy and the girls since they moved. "Well, he called me at work today and asked if I'd like to go to dinner with him this evening. I figured since you were at your party this evening you wouldn't miss me."

"Why mother, you have a date?" Quinn teased.

"It's not a date," Judy replied primly, "just dinner."

"Sounds like a date to me," Brittany chimed in, completely straight faced.

"Ok, maybe it's a date," their mother conceded.

Quinn got nervous then and decided it was now or never. "Speaking of dates mom, I need to tell you something."

Brittany, knowing what was coming, excused herself to go upstairs and start her homework. Judy sat down on the couch and smiled at her daughter. "I take it you're seeing someone? You've seemed awfully happy the last few weeks so I suspected as much. Who's the lucky guy?"

Quinn took a breath and looked her mother in the eyes. "It's Rachel."

Judy frowned "Rachel Berry, the girl you're friends with?"

"Yeah," Quinn said quietly.

Judy broke into a smile. "Well that's wonderful dear." She looked at her watch. "I really have to get going, Mark will be here any minute. Have fun at your party, make sure you don't drink and look after your sister." They both heard a car horn from outside. "Good night baby, I love you. Good night baby B," she shouted upstairs. "Oh and Quinn, make sure you invite Rachel for dinner one night, I'd very much like to get to know her better," she smiled. And with that, she was out of the door and gone.

Quinn was still stood in the same place she'd been when she told her mother about Rachel. She was rooted to the spot, and her mouth was opening and closing of its own accord. She didn't even notice Brittany stood in the doorway. "How did it go?" she asked curiously, taking in her sister's odd body language.

Quinn carried on as she was for around another minute. Then finally she shouted, "Well I expected more of a reaction than that!"


	23. Chapter 22

**A/N: I was planning on getting Brittana together in this chapter but it kinda ran away from me, I promise it'll be in the next one though. There are some nice Brittana and Faberry moments however, and a smidge of Finntana friendship. Zack gets his proper intro in this chap too, I hope you like him and let me know what you think! Reviews and alerts as always appreciated.**

* * *

**Chapter 22**

Santana was beginning to get frustrated with Rachel in a way she never had before. All through the day she'd been bugging her about Brittany every time she saw her. The only thing that had stopped her from losing her temper was the knowledge that Rachel was only trying to distract herself from the situation with Shelby. She knew they'd had some kind of confrontation, but Rachel wasn't willing to talk about it and Santana knew better than to pry. However, this didn't change the fact that Rachel's unhealthy obsession with her love life (or lack thereof) was starting to grate on her.

As soon as they got home Santana had run to her room, citing the need to get ready for Puck's party. In reality she just wanted to get her homework done in peace. Writing about chemical equations and the Cuban Missile Crisis would undoubtedly distract her for a while. She immersed herself in her work until she heard a knock at the door. "Come in," she called distractedly.

Rachel entered the room wearing skin tight jeans and a black off the shoulder blouse, hair and make up done. Her eyes narrowed at the Latina. "I thought you said you were getting ready?" she said accusingly.

"I did," Santana shot back defensively, "I just needed to get my homework done first."

"It's Friday," Rachel replied, clearly exasperated. "Unless you have extra lessons on a Saturday that I don't know about, your homework could have waited until tomorrow."

"Oh my god," Santana exclaimed in feigned shock, "the aliens are here and they've taken my best friend! Sound the alarm!" she screamed, jumping into the corner of her room and picking up a table lamp to defend herself.

Rachel's frown involuntarily turned into a smirk and she let out a chuckle. She regained her composure and placed her hands on her hips, trying and failing to look stern. "I'll have you know I am perfectly capable of relaxing. I just don't see the point of doing your homework tonight when we have a party to get ready for and you have the whole weekend to do it."

"Relax, Rachel," Santana said smiling, placing the lamp back on the bedside table, "I've already showered, I just need to change and fix my make up, I already know what I'll be wearing, I'll be fifteen minutes, tops."

"You'd better be," Rachel said, suddenly nervous, "I promised Quinn I'd pick her and Brittany up in thirty. If you take any longer, we'll be late."

Santana moved towards her friend and started shooing her out of her bedroom. "Then may I suggest that you leave, and therefore give me maximum time to get ready?" she said jokingly, putting on her best Rachel voice. As soon as she was out of the room she closed the door in her face.

"I sound nothing like that," Rachel snapped through the closed door as Santana laughed.

As it happened it took the Latina twenty minutes (or twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds according to Rachel's stopwatch) to get ready, and the tiny diva was glaring at her when she finally descended the stairs to the living room, wearing a long strappy red dress cut daringly low at the back.

"As beautiful as you look Santana, you do realise we are only going to Puck's, right?" Rachel said pocketing her phone, and covertly checking out her friend.

"A lady always looks her best," Santana stated grandly as she swept past Rachel to the front door. "Feel free to check out my ass by the way," she turned around grinning cheekily, "everybody does."

"You disgust me," Rachel replied rolling her eyes, "and you might want to rein it in a little, I'm not sure I'll be able to fit Quinn and Brittany in the car with your ego the size it is now."

Santana just winked and hopped into the passenger side.

The shorter brunette had been driving less than five minutes before she started. "So, what are you going to do about Brittany?"

Santana groaned and leaned her head against the car window. "Not this again. I've already told you, I'm working on it."

"Yes, you've been saying that for a few days now, but I fail to see what work you've actually been doing," Rachel said frowning.

"All right, that's enough," Santana snapped, "what I do, or don't do for that matter with Brittany is none of your business. I'll handle this however I damn well please and you don't get to stick your nose in just because you need a distraction." The Latina regretted that as soon as she said it. She risked a glance over at Rachel and saw her mouth tighten. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," she said apologetically.

"No, it's alright," Rachel sighed, "you're right."

"Still I shouldn't have gone off like that," Santana said firmly, "I know you're just trying to help. I just don't know what to do."

"You'll figure it out," Rachel said. Then the diva smirked, "after all, you're Santana fucking Lopez,"

"Why Rachel Barbra Berry," Santana said feigning shock again, "wash your mouth out. Where did you learn language like that?"

"It must be the unscrupulous company I've been keeping lately," she winked, pulling up outside Quinn and Brittany's house.

After knocking, Brittany answered the door with a huge smile. "Hey guys, right on time!" Santana gave Rachel a smirk which was pointedly ignored. "Quinn's in the living room if you wanna go get her, I just need to grab my bag." The tall blonde disappeared upstairs and the two friends entered the house, Santana leading Rachel to the living room.

To say they were surprised by Quinn's appearance was an understatement. She was dressed very similarly to Rachel, but her blouse was a dark green which Santana had to admit set off her eyes beautifully. Her make up was done to perfection and she looked stunning but none of this was a surprise. What was a surprise was the fact that she was sat with her arms folded across her chest, staring into space.

"Quinn, what's wrong?" Rachel said, obviously concerned as she look a seat to the blonde's left and wrapped an arm around her. The Latina perched herself on the chair arm.

"I told my mom. You know, about me and you?" she said, still staring at nothing and not even attempting to move.

"Did it go badly?" Rachel asked frowning. "I would think she'd be accepting what with everything that happened with Brittany."

"No she was fine with it," Quinn said still not physically reacting, "in fact she didn't react at all. She just left to go on a date. There was no comment, no talk, nothing." Santana could already sense what the problem may be, unfortunately Rachel didn't pick up on the danger signs and giggled. "What's so funny?" Quinn rounded on the shorter girl and snapped.

Rachel stopped laughing instantly and looked shocked. "Well I just thought…I mean that's a good thing , right?"

Brittany had entered the living room without any of them noticing. She stood in the doorway and cleared her throat gently. "We should get going, everyone else is probably there by now."

"Fine," Quinn shrugged standing up and making her way to the front door without looking back.

"Smooth," Santana whispered to Rachel. The shorter girl just looked confused and shell-shocked.

* * *

Rachel was having the hardest time figuring out what she'd done wrong. The drive to Puck's had been silent, Santana occasionally glaring at her from the passenger seat, Quinn staring determinedly out of the window, and Brittany trying to soothe her sister with the occasional stroke of an arm.

As soon as they arrived Quinn excused herself and disappeared, supposedly to talk to some of her Cheerios friends. However Rachel watched her by-pass the group of cheerleaders entirely and make a bee-line straight for the kitchen.

"Ladies," she was distracted by an already tipsy Noah Puckerman descending on them with an unsavoury leer on his face, "welcome to the Puckster's humble home. Please get drunk as soon as possible, and I'll catch up with you later," he finished his greeting with a sleazy wink. The three remaining girls rolled their eyes at him almost in sync and swept past him into the house.

"I should go and find Quinn," Rachel said to Santana over the thumping music, "try and make things right."

"Good plan, I'll catch you later," the Latina responded, heading over to Tina, Mercedes, Kurt and a dapper dark-haired boy who looked familiar that Kurt seemed to be enamoured with. Brittany gave Rachel a hug and whispered, "good luck," in her ear before following.

Rachel pushed her way past a cluster of footballers who were stood in the doorway of the kitchen only to find the room empty. She poured herself a diet Coke and glanced through the back door. Quinn was sat on the swing set in the back yard gently rocking herself backwards and forwards, a drink in her hand. Rachel ventured out and over to her, taking a seat next to her. "Hey you," she said.

"Hey," Quinn replied in a small voice.

Rachel started talking, keeping all harshness and accusation out of her voice. "So, I distinctly remember you making me promise that if something was bothering me, I wouldn't bottle it up. Then not too long ago, you agreed to make the same promise. With that in mind, what did I do that upset you so much?"

Quinn sighed and looked at her. "It wasn't what you did, it was what my mom did."

Rachel frowned. "I don't understand, I thought you said she took everything well. I mean, she didn't even react at all."

"Exactly," Quinn said with tears in her eyes, "she didn't react, like it didn't even matter. Like I didn't matter." She was clearly trying to hold back tears now as she explained further. "When all that horrible stuff happened with Brittany last year, mom was so supportive of her when she found out. She wrapped her up in a big hug and told her everything would be ok and that she still loved her no matter what. I'm scared too," she said, the tears staring to fall, "and I needed my mom to do that for me, but instead she acted like it didn't matter and just left me there and went on her date."

"Oh," Rachel breathed, finally understanding. She got up from her swing and crouched on the balls of her feet in front of Quinn, putting her hands on her knees to stop her from swinging. "I don't believe for one second that your mom cares less about you than Brittany. The situations between the two of you are so different. You haven't been outed to the whole school by your best friend who you also had a crush on, and you haven't been beaten half to death."

"I know," Quinn replied not meeting her eyes, "but I still need my mother to care about this."

"And I'm sure she does," Rachel ensured her. "I've seen Judy with you and with Brittany, she looks at you both just the same, like you hold the moon. She adores you. She also knows how strong and independent you are, so she probably figured you wouldn't need a big speech about how much she accepts and loves you. I think this is more an error of judgement on her part than her caring about Brittany more."

"You really think so?" Quinn said drying her eyes.

"I know so," Rachel smiled. "If it matters this much to you, talk to her about it, tell her how you feel. She'll understand."

"Thank you, Rachel," Quinn said, lifting Rachel up to sit on her knee and hugging her.

"It's what I do," the brunette said teasingly with a casual shrug. She stood up and pulled Quinn up with her. As she turned to re-enter the house however, the blonde pulled her into a deep kiss, wrapping her arms around her back. Rachel had her hands in Quinn's hair before she knew what was happening. As they both pulled away gasping for air, Rachel rested their foreheads together. "What if somebody saw us?" she whispered.

"Strangely right at this moment, I can't bring myself to care," Quinn whispered back.

* * *

"Hey my fellow glee-clubbers," Santana said as she approached the group in the corner, "what's shakin'?"

"Not much," Mercedes replied, clearly distracted as she tried to catch Sam's eye. He was stood not far away with Puck, Mike, Finn and some guy off the football team who the Latina didn't recognise. Sam's eyes kept occasionally sliding over to Mercedes then looking away just as quickly. Santana caught Tina rolling her eyes towards Mike who was trying not to laugh. Santana sidled over to her and whispered, "so I take it I'm not the only one in the know?"

Tina half-smiled and whispered back, "Me and Mike have been trying to push them together for weeks now."

Brittany came over and they all started talking. Kurt introduced the strangely familiar boy as Blaine Anderson, the captain of the Dalton Academy Warblers. Apparently they'd swapped numbers at Sectionals.

After the conversation died down to school and glee stuff, Brittany nudged her in the ribs. "Hey San I'm bored. Do you wanna go get something to drink?"

"Sure Britt, let's go." They linked arms and headed to the kitchen. Santana spotted Rachel and Quinn talking outside and decided to leave them to it.

"So, how's things with your mom?" Brittany asked.

"Better according to Leroy," she replied pouring them a drink each, "I can go and visit her from this week, she has to stay in for another two, but she's doing really well."

"If you need someone to go with you when you visit, I can if you want," Brittany said shyly.

Santana smiled at her adorableness. "Thanks Britt, that'd be cool. I mean Mr Harris who lives next door and Rachel have both said they wanna come, but you can too if you want."

"I want to be there for you, San," the blonde said, meeting Santana's eyes and refusing to look away, "whenever you need me."

Santana swallowed and tried to look away but found she couldn't. "T-thank you," she stammered.

"Is there something you maybe want to say to me?" Brittany pressed. Santana knew what she was getting at but decided to play dumb. She didn't think asking her out at one of Puck's parties would be appropriate somehow.

"What do you mean?" she asked feigning ignorance.

Brittany's eyes narrowed. "You know what, it doesn't even matter. I'm gonna go and dance." With that she stormed out of the kitchen. Santana was about to follow her but thought better of it. After all she wouldn't ask her out here no matter what, and she couldn't think of anything else to say to make it better. Instead, she started hitting the booze pouring herself another generous helping of rum and glancing back outside, just in time to see Rachel and Quinn full on making out by the swings.

She looked skyward then and muttered, "Are you fucking trying to torture me or something?"

Rachel and Quinn re-entered the kitchen looking flustered while Santana snorted at them. "Have fun out there?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel sniffed haughtily while Quinn tried unsuccessfully to hide behind her.

"Never mind," Santana sighed.

"What's up?" Rachel asked concerned.

"Oh, I just messed things up with Britt more than I already have," she replied moodily.

"I'll go find her," Quinn chipped in, "you two stay here."

"What happened," Rachel asked curiously.

"She was hinting pretty strongly about me asking her out and I bailed," she replied despondently. "I just didn't want to ask her on a first date at one of Puck's drunken shin-digs."

"Oh Tana," Rachel sighed smiling slightly, "what will I do with you?"

* * *

Brittany ran into the living room and started dancing with some of her friends from the Cheerios to take her mind off everything. She was getting seriously tired of waiting. She once told herself that Santana was special, that she'd wait forever for her if necessary, but she was starting to realise how nigh-on impossible that was.

After a while she went for a walk around the house trying to find a familiar face. She finally ran into Finn, Puck, Mike, Sam and the same football player from before. "Hey guys," she greeted.

"Hey Brittany," Finn responded with a smile, "how's your night going?"

"I've had better," she replied with a small smile.

"Anything I can help with? No one's giving you any trouble are they?" At his words all five of the boys started looking around and flexing their muscles threateningly. Brittany noticed that all decent guys seemed to act this way around her, but she'd never been able to work out why.

"No, just stuff I need to work out on my own. No one's been threatening me," she said pointedly making them stop bristling.

Mercedes happened past then alone, looking a little worse for wear.

"Excuse me," Sam said running off to check on her.

"He's got it bad dude," the normally reticent Mike chimed in with a smile.

Puck snorted, "I don't get why he doesn't just try to get on that, she's totally into him," he said, obviously disbelieving that Sam wasn't willing to drag a drunk girl to bed.

"Maybe he's just not ready to tell her yet, like maybe he's waiting for the right moment," the unfamiliar boy said, glancing at Brittany with a casual smile. She had to admit he was handsome, tall with light brown hair and hazel eyes that reminded her a little of her sisters. "Hi, I'm Zack," he said holding his hand out in introduction.

"Hi, I'm -"

"Brittany Pierce, I know," he said. He caught the look in her eyes and continued, "I'm not a crazy stalker I promise. Shelby pointed you out to me."

"You know Shelby?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm the other kid she's gonna be tutoring," he said smiling, "so I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"You're sounding a little like a stalker again," Brittany teased.

"I promise I own no night vision goggles or binoculars," he said innocently holding up his hands.

"I believe you," she said laughing.

"Do you maybe wanna dance?" he asked, a little shyly.

"Sure," she replied, shaking off the nagging guilt at the back of her mind. _I'm single, I'm doing nothing wrong,_ she reminded herself.

They hit the makeshift dancefloor in the living room and the blonde had to admit Zack was pretty good. He wasn't exactly spectacular but he had a decent sense of rhythm, and he kept up with her well enough. When they were finally tired they headed to the kitchen for a drink. Brittany was relieved to find it empty, Santana obviously having gone elsewhere.

"Where'd you learn to dance like that?" he asked curiously.

"I was always dancing around when I was a kid, so my mom talked my dad into letting me have dance lessons. I go to the studio in Lima now, but I had a lot more choice in New York."

"I'll bet," he laughed, "I moved here from Chicago, everything's just so much smaller here."

"I know," she giggled. "So, what are you getting tutored for?"

"Math and Science. I have dyscalculia. That means I don't understand numbers too well," he continued when he saw the confused look on Brittany's face.

"I have that but with words," she said.

"Dyslexia?" he asked curiously, helping himself to a bottle of water.

"That's the one," she replied getting her own drink, "I can never remember what it's called."

"So I guess you're getting tutored in English then?" he asked.

"And Spanish," she clarified.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "I guess we won't be seeing that much of each other then. You know, unless you want to," He hedged.

She smiled. "We'll still have study periods together in the library with Shelby. I think we have one Monday just before lunch."

"Yeah that's true," he said, trying not to sound disappointed. Brittany was trying everything not to lead him on too much. Zack seemed really sweet but there was still that voice at the back of her mind telling her she should wait for Santana.

Quinn entered the kitchen then saving her from stalling further, telling her it was time to go. She waved goodbye to Zack and headed for the front door, surprisingly glad to get away from him. She just knew their study sessions were going to be awkward for a while.

* * *

Santana was wandering around the house alone. Rachel had gone to use the bathroom and she was bored waiting in the kitchen so she decided to leave. She was definitely drunk by now, although not so inebriated that she didn't know what was going on. She walked past Sam and Mercedes in an armchair. She'd passed out on him and he was clearly unwilling to move for fear of waking her up. Kurt and the Warbler boy, Blaine were currently a little busy on the couch. Tina and Mike had come to find her earlier to tell her they were leaving, Mike carrying a drunk Tina over his shoulder fireman style.

She was about to head back to the kitchen figuring to wait there for Rachel after all when she saw Brittany getting cosy with the footballer from earlier. They were engrossed in conversation and both looked pretty pleased with themselves. She decided at that point she'd had enough. She made a beeline for the front door, fumbling with her phone to send Rachel a message telling her she was walking home as she pushed the front door open. As soon as she left the driveway and reached the street however she heard someone call her name. Still messing with her phone, she turned around to see Finn heading in her direction.

"Hey Santana, where you off to?" he asked cautiously, knowing what the Latina's temper was like when drunk.

"Home, what does it look like?" she snapped.

"Uh uh, I don't think so," he said sternly, "there's no way I'm gonna let you walk home alone drunk."

"So walk with me," she said impatiently.

"Or, you could just wait for the others," he urged, "I ran into Quinn a few minutes ago, she said she was looking for you and Brittany."

"I don't wanna ride home with them, I'm too much of an idiot," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked, obviously confused.

"I mean, I pushed away a girl I really like and now she's with that football boy,"

"Wait, the _girl_ you like?" Finn asked, shocked.

"Yes Finn, God get with the programme," she said, just drunk enough to not realise she'd just outed herself to her best friend's ex.

"Ok, we'll come back to that later," he muttered, "how about for now we just go back inside?"

The Latina tried to look him in the eye but was having difficulty maintaining balance, "I don't want to," she pouted.

Finn, trying not to laugh, took her arm gently and guided her back towards the house and to sit on the porch with him. "If you're talking about Brittany and Zack, they only just met tonight so I doubt he's asked her out yet. He's kinda the quiet and shy type."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah but I have to ask, if you like her so much why are you sat on the porch talking to me about it instead of telling her?" he queried.

"Cause it's never the right time, "she said throwing her hands in the air impatiently.

"Exactly," he said triumphantly, "there is never a right time. When I asked out Rachel it was after the last game of the season. I was all sweaty and gross but she didn't realise and just jumped into a hug with me to congratulate me. She pulled back covered in my grossness with her nose all crinkled up from the smell, and she just looked so adorable I asked her there and then. Just ask her San," he said throwing an arm around her as she smiled at the image of what he'd just told her, "the worst thing she'll say is no and then you can move on. But when she says yes, that's what makes it a perfect moment, not where you are or what you do." He looked more at peace than she'd seen him in a while.

"You're really getting over her now aren't you?" she asked gently.

"She'll always be in my mind," he replied, "she's the first girl I loved. But yeah, I think I could stand to move on," he winked at her jokingly.

"In your dreams," she laughed nudging him in the ribs as he laughed. She pulled him into a full hug then. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said quietly as Quinn, Brittany and Rachel approached. "Look what I found," he said to Rachel, pulling out of the hug.

"Thanks Finn," she smiled, then turned to the Latina, noticing her swaying as she sat there. "Come on you drunken fool, let's get you home."

The other three waved goodbye to Finn as Santana stood and leaned on Rachel. The smaller girl half dragged her to the car and literally threw her in the backseat. Quinn took the front next to Rachel and Brittany sat next to the Latina.

As they pulled up outside the Fabray's house and Quinn exited with a quick peck to Rachel's lips, Santana grabbed Brittany's hand before she could leave too. "Hey Britt, will you go on a date with me?" she asked really quickly.

The tall blonde turned around beaming from ear to ear. The smile dimmed slightly when she saw the state the Latina was in. She leaned towards her gave her a peck on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "I'll tell you what, if you remember this and ask me again on Monday in school, I promise I'll say yes." With that she exited the car.


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N: Okay so the next chapter is finally here, a thousand apologies for the wait, may I be nibbled in my sleep by hungry kittens. It's the one most of you have been waiting for and it's a monster length-wise, but if I cut it down like last time I would've been making you wait _again_ and I get the feeling certain of you would have been coming for me with torches and pitchforks.**

**A/N2: Apologies to my faithful reviewers I've had such a crazy couple of weeks I never got the chance to reply to you as normal, but know that your reviews are always appreciated and SuperNina, please don't hurt me for keeping you waiting ;)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even Harry Potter characters ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 23**

It didn't matter that Rachel got in past midnight, that she'd spent a good portion of the party last night kissing her not-quite-girlfriend in the backyard in plain view of everyone or that her best friend had finally gotten over her gay panic to ask out the potential love of her life only to be informed she needed to try again when sober. No, high school drama would have to wait for a few hours. Nothing got between Rachel Barbra Berry and her morning routine.

***Bing* - 1 new message from Quinnie Bear**

Well maybe that did.

- _Hey gorgeous, you awake? – Q_

_- You know perfectly well I've already been awake for an hour, you're interrupting my morning routine! – R_

_- I'm so sorry, maybe you'd like to come over later and punish me ;) – Q_

_- Oh my goodness! It's seven am, how can your mind be in the gutter so early? – R_

_- I can't help it I wake up like this I was serious by the way, I wondered if you wanted to come over for lunch? Now that mom knows we're dating she wants to meet you in an official capacity. – Q_

_- That sounds wonderful, count me in, especially since you asked so formally ;) I'll be over at twelve, is that okay? – R_

_- That's perfect, I can't wait. By the way, is Lopez up yet? Does she remember any of last night? – Q_

That gave Rachel pause for thought. Santana hadn't surfaced yet and given her condition probably wouldn't for a while, and the diva had been giving some serious thought over what to tell her about the events of the previous evening. If she remembered everything there was no problem, however she had been pretty inebriated and if she'd forgotten it would be up to Rachel to decide whether or not to tell her. On the one hand she should probably leave well enough alone, write it off as not meant to be and cross every digit she possessed that Santana would ask out Brittany anyway.

The best friend part of her brain kicked in then. While the other option would probably be the most correct, she simply couldn't bear to see Santana and Brittany dance around each other any longer, and she was honest enough to realise that Brittany wasn't all that far away from being tired of waiting to be asked no matter how much she liked the Latina. She decided to keep her reply to Quinn as neutral as possible.

_- She isn't up yet, but I'll let you know what happens if she's up before I come over – R_

Rachel just pressed the send button, when she heard a scream from next door. _Oh god_, she thought, already hurrying to the guest room. Her dads came out of their room and she had to gesture them back in, mouthing 'girl stuff' at them theatrically. They backed away and closed the door behind them as Rachel entered the guest room without knocking and closed the door behind her.

Santana was standing in the middle of the room in still in the pyjamas Rachel had helped her into the night before, holding a pillow in one hand and a stuffed bear in the other. The smaller girl had seen her friend in various emotional states before, she was quick to anger and had been known to cry at random afternoon specials on TV, but the diva had never before observed her in a total state of panic. That night a few weeks ago seemed to have been shock and upset more than anything, but this was total panic.

"Tana," Rachel said quietly, approaching slowly so as not to startle her, a trick she'd learned from various rough-looking men on the National Geographic channel, "what's going on?"

"Tell me it was a dream." Rachel wasn't sure if the Latina knew she was there or if she was talking to thin air. "Tell me I didn't slur at Brittany in the back of a car and drunkenly ask her out."

"Um," Rachel hesitated because while _yes_, that was exactly what Santana had done she wouldn't have put it quite so bluntly, "yes, you pretty much did." She hoped her friend would appreciate the honesty. Turns out she was wrong.

"WHAT? Ohgodohgodohgod, now everything's ruined!" Santana threw both pillow and bear onto the bed, both managing a safe landing, at least until the taller brunette threw herself on top of them. "There's no way I can ask her out now, I made a total dick of myself!" She pounded her fists into the mattress to emphasise her point.

Rachel came and sat down next to her, stroking her hair with one hand and absent-mindedly pulling the bear to safety with the other. "It's not a total disaster. She said she'd say yes if you asked her again when sober."

Santana looked up at her wide-eyed. "Okay, I don't remember that part, I kinda presumed she just turned me down flat."

Rachel gave herself a mental high-five for telling Santana what happened completely inadvertently. _Totally guilt free,_ she thought. "Nope. So there you see, not a disaster."

The diva thought all was well until Santana buried her head back in the mattress with a groan. After a minute she lifted her head again. "Except now it has to be perfect again. If I could've just waited till today I could've just taken her to the park or for coffee and asked her. I screwed this up so badly it needs to be spectacular again."

Rachel was about to respond in the negative but stopped to think about it and realised the Latina might be onto something. She knew if someone messed up asking her out that badly she'd appreciate a grand romantic gesture. A plan started to form in the diva's head, a plan that she deemed foolproof. Well hopefully, there'd be some fools involved, after all. "Tana, I may have an idea, but I'm going to need you to trust me, okay?"

"Anything," she answered immediately, "I'm totally convinced that nothing you come up with could make things any worse."

Whilst not the total vote of confidence she was hoping for, Rachel decided to go with it. She gave Santana a quick hug and excused herself, telling her she needed to make a few phone calls. The first call would be easy, the second…not so much.

"_Hey beautiful, what's up?"_

"Hey Quinn. Listen I don't have much time to talk but I need a favour."

"_Of course, is everything okay?" _ Rachel was touched by how concerned Quinn sounded.

"I'm fine but Santana's freaking out, she's awake and she remembers everything," she casually omitted the part where she inadvertently jogged her memory. "Is there any chance you could come here for lunch instead of me coming over there? I know you really wanted me to meet your mother properly but I really need to fix this and I have a plan but I need you here with me -"

"_Okay slow down Rach, it's fine. I'll be over at twelve, you can fill me in on the details then."_

"Thank you so much," she sighed in relief, "I'll make it up to you okay? I'll come over for dinner some time next week,"

"_That sounds great I can't wait," _Quinn replied, not sounding put out in the slightest much to Rachel's relief.

"Thank you sweetie I'll see you later."

"_Okay bye, and good luck with whatever you're planning."_

Rachel hung up the phone, went to her desk drawer and rooted out the number. She'd deleted it from her phone to remove temptation but wrote it down and hid it in case of emergencies.

"_Hello?"_ the sleepy voice at the other end said after seemingly forever.

"Hi Finn? It's Rachel. Listen, I need a favour…"

* * *

Quinn couldn't help but feel disappointed as she headed over to Rachel's later that day. Meeting her mother as her date would've been great but she'd actually had an ulterior motive to her plan. Brittany had convinced her the night before to ask Rachel to be her actual genuine girlfriend rather than just her date, had told Quinn they were basically a couple anyway and if they took things any slower they'd grind to a halt. As it happened the shorter blonde had been planning to ask her for a while, and the mind-blowing kiss they had at the party had pretty much sealed the deal.

But now the plan had been ruined, all because Santana was a total idiot when drunk. If she'd just been able to keep her mouth shut until she sobered up, Rachel would be en route to the Fabray house so Quinn could woo her properly. Not that she needed much wooing seeing as they were already dating, but Quinn had gotten a little caught up with the idea. There would have been candles. And vegan chocolates. And lots of kissing.

She pulled up outside the house and damn near battered her head against the steering wheel because _really, could her day not get any worse?_ Finn Hudson was heading towards the front door, looking considerably more bemused than normal.

She exited the car and figured she might as well get this over with. "Hi Finn," she called half-heartedly.

He jumped in surprise and whipped around, relaxing slightly when he realised he wasn't being stalked by a very polite serial killer. Oh hey Quinn, did Rachel call you?"

"Yeah, she told me there was a Santana-related emergency. You?"

"Same, except she told me to get the glee club too, they're all on the way."

"Good." The conversational options appeared to have well and truly dried up, so they occupied time that could have been spent knocking by looking nervously anywhere but at each other. "So, why does she want the club here?" Quinn ventured.

"Beats me, she just asked me to rally the troops," he shrugged, "she said Santana was in trouble so I hopped to it."

"You two are pretty close, huh?"

"Yeah, we've known each other a while, as long as I've known Rachel actually," he saw Quinn wince slightly and changed the subject back rapidly, "she's really cool, people who don't know her that well think she's mean but she really cares about her friends, you know? I mean I know she'd always have my back so I'd be a crappy friend if I didn't have hers." He stopped talking then and frowned slightly, before saying, "This is really -"

"Awkward? Yeah, totally," Quinn finished for him. She continued, "You seem like a really cool guy Finn, I know we haven't really talked properly with – everything, but I never intentionally set out to hurt you and neither did Rachel."

"I know that," he replied quietly, "but I still ended up getting hurt. I mean, I feel a lot better lately but it's still there sometimes."

Quinn wanted to apologise again but thought better of it. She headed to the door instead, Finn trailing behind, and knocked. It was answered seconds later by a wild-eyed Hiram.

"Oh thank goodness you're both here, maybe you can talk some sense into them." Quinn heard the sounds of shouting from upstairs; she couldn't make out what was being said but she recognised the voices.

"Is that Rachel and Lop-Santana?" she asked, catching herself just in time.

"Yeah, they've been going at it for fifteen minutes now, me and Leroy don't dare intervene. God, imagine the massacre," he shuddered.

"Aren't you worried it could get violent?" Quinn asked curiously, "I mean, it sounds pretty intense from here."

They way Hiram looked at her made her feel like she'd descended to his doorstep from outer space. "Of course not, it's Rachel and Santana," he said incredulously.

"Mr Berry, would it be okay if you let us in now, I really need the bathroom," Finn piped up hopping from one foot to the other.

"Of course, I'm so sorry," he said quickly moving out of the way, "please come in. And I beg you, do something about the noise, I'm getting a little too old for this."

Quinn and Finn both muttered thanks and headed upstairs, the tall boy dashing to the communal bathroom while Quinn made her way to the guest bedroom, which was by now ominously quiet. She knocked, praying that she got some kind of response, and was never more relieved to hear Santana tell her to enter.

They both looked surprised when it was Quinn who entered, obviously expecting one of her fathers. They were sat on opposite sides of the bed facing away from each other, definitely not a good sign. Rachel glanced at the time on her phone and her eyes went impossibly wide. "Is it noon already?"

"Apparently you two were a little caught up, that probably made the time go quicker," Quinn said teasingly attempting to lighten the tense atmosphere.

"We were 'caught up' because Rachel here thinks it's alright to out me to the entire glee club!" Santana spat.

Rachel turned around looking mortified. "That wasn't my plan, I swear, I just forgot!"

"What's going on?" Finn asked from the doorway.

"Beats me," Quinn shrugged, "I'm hoping we'll be enlightened soon though." She turned to face the two brunette girls again. "Would somebody care to start making sense?"

"Well _someone_ apparently thought it would be an awesome idea to invite the glee club over and get them to help me serenade Brittany," the Latina huffed, "and conveniently forgot the part where neither me nor her are out of the damn closet yet!"

Rachel was looking more distraught by the second. "I told you it was unintentional, I got so caught up in the plan that it – slipped my mind."

"That's a pretty big thing to slip your mind Rach," Finn said dubiously, "I mean I only found out last night."

"I know," she wailed, "and I'm so sorry Tana, and now the club are coming over because I forgot to tell you to un-invite them and I messed everything up and -"

Santana swivelled around in an instant when she heard Rachel start to cry and wrapped her arms around her. "Sssh, it's okay. I know you didn't do it on purpose, Shrimp. We'll figure something out, I'm sorry I lost it."

"I-it's alright," Rachel hiccupped into her shoulder, "you s-should be m-mad at me."

"It's okay Rach, we can fix this," Quinn stepped in. She turned to Santana. "Lopez, do you genuinely not want the glee kids to know or are you just a little scared?"

"More than a little," she scoffed, "but I don't mind them knowing I guess. Just the thought of telling them terrifies me."

The blonde took a deep breath before responding. "What if I told you me and Rachel could do something that would make this less scary for you?"

"What do you mean?" Finn asked.

Quinn ignored him and Santana and knelt in front of Rachel, tilting her head so they were looking each other in the eyes. "Would you be willing to come out to the glee club with me to help Santana?"

Rachel looked shocked and Santana's eyes shot up. She couldn't see Finn's face but she heard his sharp intake of breath. There was silence for a minute as Quinn waited for a response. She didn't push Rachel, this had to be completely her decision. Rachel set her jaw and got the determined look in her face Quinn normally associated with giving an inspirational speech or fighting for a solo. "Let's do it," she said firmly.

"You guys would really do that for me?" Santana asked quietly. Rachel beamed at her and nodded. Santana frowned then though. "But what about Brittany? We'd basically be outing her too." They heard the doorbell ring then, and Finn darted out telling them he stall the rest of the club downstairs.

"I speak for Brittany when I say she wouldn't mind," Quinn stated confidently, "the only reason she hasn't come out yet is because the only girl she likes here is you, and she didn't think you were ready."

Santana stood up and walked to the other side of the bed. She offered her hands to Quinn who was still crouched on the floor in front of Rachel and helped her up. Before the blonde knew what was happening the Latina threw herself at Quinn and wrapped her in the biggest hug she'd ever given, sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder. The blonde put her arms around Santana and smiled down at Rachel over her shoulder, who was desperately trying to hold back the tears. Once Quinn successfully extricated herself and all three girls dabbed at their eyes, they headed downstairs to greet the team.

"Hello everyone," Rachel began, "I would imagine you're all wondering why Finn asked you to come here."

"Damn right," Puck grumbled, "I'm giving up a Halo marathon for this."

"You know I always beat you down, bro," Artie said, smirking at the mohawked boy who just glared and muttered something about camping at respawning sites.

"Guys, this is important," Rachel interjected before a full-blown argument could ensue. "There's something Santana needs your help with. However, before we can get to that, there's something me and Quinn need to tell you first." Finn tried to keep his face neutral and Sam was grinning from ear to ear at the blonde girl while everyone else just looked curious. Rachel was starting to look nervous, which was completely unlike her. She looked to Quinn for support, who gladly stepped up. She walked over to the shorter girl and took her hand, lacing their fingers together. The penny started to drop on a few faces at that point.

"Me and Rachel are dating," Quinn blurted out. There was total silence for about five seconds. Then the room erupted with noise as everyone started talking at once. Even with the noise and obvious shock from everyone Quinn didn't feel nervous or scared. In fact she felt better than she had in a while. She and Rachel didn't have to hide any more, they could be themselves, at least in the choir room. They all stopped again when Finn gave a piercing whistle. "Hey, focus please," he said once it was quiet.

"Thank you Finn," Rachel said gratefully. "As I was saying, as fascinated as I'm sure you all are, that's not why we called you here, although it is related indirectly." She turned to face the Latina. "Santana, would you like to speak now?"

Santana made her way slowly to where Rachel was standing, and Quinn had only ever once before seen her with her walls down. She blocked that memory from her mind and focused on the here and now.

"Okay," she started nervously, her voice audibly shaking. Quinn, Rachel and Finn all moved to stand around her and she smiled at them all gratefully. "I'm gay," she said quietly. Again, there was total silence, except this time no one seemed willing to break it.

Quinn thought Santana was about to burst into tears when Artie wheeled his way to the front, took the Latina's hands and pulled her down into a hug. He whispered in her ear just loud enough for them all to hear, "I think I speak for everyone when I say we're proud of you." He pulled away and looked to Quinn and Rachel too. "All of you."

After that it was like a dam had burst. Everyone piled to the front offering congratulations and hugs and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Of course Puck claimed it was hayfever season and he had allergies but nobody bought it.

When they all finally settled down it was surprisingly Tina who piped up. "So Santana, what do you need us to do?" Everyone sat forward, eager to help.

"Well," Rachel said speaking up for the Latina who had barely stopped sobbing, "it involves the only person not here. This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

By the time Santana got to school on Monday she was going out of her mind. Rachel had been like a drill sergeant all weekend, making sure everybody knew their part to perfection. She'd never pushed them this hard before, not even for Regionals last year, and Santana was touched she went to all the effort, but the diva had also told her she wasn't to contact Brittany all weekend. Quinn had been running interference at the Fabray house, convincing her sister that Santana was sick and contagious to keep her away.

The rest of the club had been awesome, no one more so that Quinn, surprisingly. As well as keeping Brittany away she'd been by Santana's side the whole time, helping her learn the song and keeping Rachel calm in a way the Latina could only dream of doing. And of course she'd never forget the way she came out of the closet to help her. It was kind of nice to think they were actually friends now rather than just tolerating each other for Brittany and Rachel's sake and she'd finally started to see the similarities in them that everyone else thought were so obvious.

She was so nervous now it was unreal. She'd done as directed by Rachel and texted Brittany, asking her to head to the auditorium after school and now it just felt like the day was dragging by. It was only lunchtime and she already felt like she'd been here all day. It didn't help that Quinn was escorting Brittany from place to place as Rachel was doing with Santana to prevent them from accidentally bumping into each other in the halls.

Rachel was doing her best to distract her, talking to her about anything and everything to distract her from what would be happening, but the constant chatter was starting to grate on her nerves. She was about to threaten the shorter girl with a sock in the mouth, but something else stopped her flow of chatter. Shelby had just stepped out of her temporary office, obviously on her way to grab some food herself. As soon as she saw Rachel she stopped dead in her tracks and all colour faded from her face. She then bolted straight back into her face. Santana almost smiled. She had something to take her frustration out on.

Taking Rachel by the arm, she marched her towards Shelby's office. "Tana, what -" Rachel tried to ask but before she could finish the Latina had opened the office door, pushed Rachel in ahead of her and closed it behind her.

"Okay, I'm done with this," she snapped striding towards the desk and a startled Shelby, "you've been feeding all of us the same bullshit since you arrived and it stops right now. I can't speak for Rachel here, but I would sure as Hell like to know what's going on." She folded her arms across her chest and began tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.

Shelby's eyes hardened slightly. "Listen Santana I know you're just trying to defend your friend, but that doesn't give you the right to barge into my office and start making demands of me."

"Don't you _dare_ speak to her like that," Rachel snapped making them both stare at her, "she's been more of a family to me than you've ever been and you think she has no _right_? Well while we're talking about rights, why don't we talk about yours?" Santana saw Shelby recoil and look almost terrified at those words. Rachel had never sounded like this before. The Latina had seen her get angry and shout but it was nothing like this, it was like she'd gone way past angry and out the other side. She could only be described as coldly furious.

"What right did you have to reappear in my life when I was still a child?" Rachel continued. "What right did you have to disappear, not only with no word but removing the only way I had to contact you? What gave you the right to reappear at my school years later and barely speak to me? What gives you the right after everything you've done to sneak around and hide in your office like a coward?" Shelby was reeling as if she'd been physically beaten. Rachel may have been beyond tears, but her birth mother wasn't and they were streaming down her face.

"I'd answer her if I were you," Santana said conversationally, "I can't honestly say I don't know what she'll do next and don't really think I'd stop her whatever it might be."

"I-I'm so sorry Rachel," Shelby said brokenly, "I'm so, so sorry. I never wanted you to feel that way, to feel so abandoned, but there were – other factors."

"Well maybe it's time you explained these 'other factors' to me so I stop feeling abandoned," the shorter girl spat out through gritted teeth.

"Okay," the older woman said trying to stop the tears, "just give me a minute, okay?"

Santana went over to Rachel and guided her to one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk. She calmed a little as she relaxed when Santana took her arm, and she seemed less likely to explode at the other woman at any second. The Latina took the other spare seat and folded her arms across her chest, glaring at Shelby for the time it took her to speak again.

"I don't know if you know but yours was a closed adoption," she began once she gathered herself, "do you know what that means?"

Rachel looked surprised. "It means you aren't allowed to seek me out or contact me until I turn eighteen, right?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I was a kid back then, I signed the papers not really knowing what it meant, how bad it would be to miss my child. I found out pretty quickly. It was like there was this empty space in my life that I couldn't fill no matter how busy I was or what I did. I did some – stupid things back then, but nothing filled the void. Eventually I went back to college with some money my dad left me and got a job as a private tutor with a small firm in New York. Something still wasn't right though, and I moved back to Ohio, took on tutoring jobs for the State for kids with learning disorders.

"A job came up at your school and I had the choice to take it or one at Carmel High. The background checks must be pretty loose around here, cause no one thought to run a check on our history. If they knew who I was to you they would never have let me that close. As it was they didn't check and I chose to go to your school." Santana chanced a glance at Rachel. She was frowning slightly but didn't look to be in any danger of losing it. The Latina shuffled her chair slightly closer just in case.

"I shouldn't have gone there," Shelby continued, "but I couldn't not know how you were. When I saw you for the first time since you were born, I almost broke down. I knew it was you straight away. I was stupid to approach you and tell you who I was. I knew it would probably end badly, that I could easily end up in front of a judge for what I was doing but I had to see my little girl." Her tears were back now and Rachel looked like she was trying to hold back too.

"I realised it had gone too far when I was about to leave one day and I saw you with your dads heading in my direction. Luckily they were distracted by something you were doing and didn't see me, so I managed to hide. It was at that moment I realised how insane it all was," she shook her head with a bitter expression on her face. "I realised how selfish I was being, coming into your life and confusing you when you already had a happy family. I started thinking about the risks I was taking. All it would take would be one careless word from you or Santana, one zealous office clerk checking the files, and I could end up losing you forever. They'd fine me, give me community service maybe even a little stint in prison. At least that's how I thought then.

"I was worried about you too," she said trying to catch Rachel's eyes, "I was worried that your dads might be angry with you for not telling them, or that they might move you away from your home and friends. I changed my number because I knew if I heard from you, I'd lose it and wouldn't be able to leave. I called my office the next day and had them transfer me to the job at Carmel."

She collapsed onto her desk, obviously emotionally drained.

"So why did you come back?" Rachel asked in a flat voice.

"This was the only job available," she said quietly, "if I didn't take it I was out of work. I figured I could avoid you for another year then let you decide what you wanted, I didn't think for one second I'd end up tutoring one of your friends."

"Well I'm very sorry your plan to ignore me for a year went badly for you," she snapped.

"I'm sorry for everything Rachel, you have no idea how much. I was stupid and selfish and it didn't occur to me how my being around would affect you. Deep down I knew I'd have to leave eventually, but I convinced myself I could make it work."

"You know what the worst thing about this is?" Rachel said. "If you'd spoken to my dads in the first place, they probably would have been okay with this. They could have loosened the restrictions, let you in. Instead you decided to sneak around, and look where it got us," the diva said, her voice steadily rising. "You messed up my life, you screwed with my head, all on a whim! I hate you!" she screamed, and ran out of the office.

Santana stood to leave. She turned to face the broken woman just before she left. "She was right you know, about her dads. They probably would have let you see her. Now you probably never will again, not really, and it's your own fault. If you loved her as much as you claim to you would have found a way instead of running."

She left the office and slammed the door behind her, heading in the direction she thought Rachel just went. She was trotting down the corridor when she heard sobbing from the girls bathroom and ducked inside. Rachel was stood sobbing into one of the sinks, make up running down her face. Santana strode over to her and wrapped her in a hug.

They stayed like that for a good ten minutes. The bell rang for next period and neither of them made any effort to move.

When the diva finally calmed down Santana pulled away and looked her in the face. "Okay we need to get you cleaned up right now, you look like you're channelling Bellatrix Lestrange."

Rachel stamped her foot and tried to look stern, "I do not!" She turned, saw herself in the mirror and shrieked. "Oh my God I do!"

"Told ya," Santana chuckled, "wait here I'll go and get my bag of tricks from my locker." Three minutes later she was back and went to work cleaning Rachel up and reapplying. "Okay, good as new," she said, admiring her handiwork.

"Thank you," Rachel said weakly.

"Not a problem, Shrimp," she said. She looked in her eyes again. "How are you feeling about all this?"

"I honestly don't know," the shorter girl said sincerely, "I mean, at least she didn't leave because she hated me, but what she did was so wrong. Then there's a part of me deep down that kind of understands you know? She did what she did because she was desperate to see me and wanted to protect me. She obviously wasn't thinking clearly, and she went about it all in completely the wrong way but it was all with the best of intentions. What do you think I should do?"

Santana shrugged at her. "I can't answer that one, Shrimp. If you tell the Principle or your parents, she'll be out of a job and Britt and Zack will lose a tutor. On the other hand if you don't you'll have to see her in the halls every day. Someone's going to suffer whatever happens."

Rachel was shaking her head. "I can't make her lose her job. I'm so angry at her but I just couldn't do that to someone. And you're right about Brittany and Zack, I can't do that to them either. I'll just have to find a way to deal with it."

"Well if you need help, we're all here. You know me, Quinn, Britt and the club." Santana told her reassuringly.

"You haven't texted Quinn or Brittany about this, have you?" she asked nervously.

She smiled at her gently. "No, you tell them when you're ready, okay? I'd tell Quinn sooner rather than later though, the longer you leave it the bigger the fit she'll throw."

Rachel laughed for the first time since that morning. "True story."

"So, how about we head to last period?" she asked, offering her arm as they heard movement out in the corridors.

"Why not indeed," Rachel smiled, "then after that, it's the moment of truth." All of the glee club had managed to get Mr Schue on board, and he'd given them all permission slips to get out of last period ten minutes early to give them time to set everything up. All except Brittany, of course.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Santana groaned, pretending to be upset about it all. Secretly, she couldn't wait.

* * *

Brittany had spent most of last period staring into space. Shelby seemed pretty out of it herself, so she wasn't being pushed as hard as usual so all she did was think. Santana had been supposedly sick all weekend, but was conveniently back in school today seemingly as healthy as ever. Well, for all she knew she was, Quinn had been shadowing her all day and it was starting to get boring. She just wanted to find Santana and make sure she was okay, she wasn't thinking about the party, at all, not even a little…okay maybe a little.

When the bell finally rang she packed her stuff in record time, shouted a quick goodbye to Shelby and shot out of the door. She was surprised to find no one waiting for her when she left. Now that her and Quinn had been here long enough not to need the buddy system any more, they were split into their ability appropriate groups. Brittany didn't mind too much, she had Shelby with her now in some lessons, and she shared a lot of classes with Puck and Sam, even if they had both mysteriously disappeared ten minutes before class ended.

However, after being followed for the rest of the day it was pretty odd no one was waiting for her. She made her way to her locker and picked up the rest of her stuff, then headed slowly to the auditorium in case any one was waiting for her.

"Hey Brittany," she turned around to see Zack running to catch up with her.

"Hey Zack, what's up?" she asked.

"Not much, I just came from a class with Quinn, she asked me to tell you not to wait for her and head straight for the auditorium if I saw you – which you obviously have done," he said, realising where they were.

"Yeah, Quinn's been following me around a lot today, it's been kinda creepy," Brittany said.

Zack smiled. "At least I know you definitely got the message. Oh, hey, I've decided I'm gonna audition for glee club."

"Awesome!" she said, jumping up and down and clapping her hands together, "We practice tomorrow night so you could come around then," she said.

"Sounds good, I'll see you there," he shouted as he ran off.

Brittany turned now that she was alone again and faced the auditorium door. Her stomach was twisting in knots. She knew something big was going on but the not knowing what was like torture. She took a deep breath to steady herself, opened the door and entered. She was met by an empty room and silence. There was no one and nothing out of place.

"Hello?" she shouted. No response. "Santana, I'm here," she tried again but still nothing. Her shoulders slumped dejectedly. She must have misunderstood the text, either that or Santana was playing with her. _No_, she thought,_ San would never do that to me_.

She turned around to leave and try and find Quinn when she saw a piece of paper pinned to the back of the door.

*_Go to the front row*_

There was a heart scribbled on the bottom of the note, and Brittany just smiled. She took down the note and headed to the front row. On the armrest of the seat in the middle of the front row was another note.

*_Sit on me*_

She looked at the seat itself and saw another note taped to the cushion.

_*Look under me*_

She laughed and got on her hands and knees looking under the chair. There was a small jewellery box there. Brittany took her seat and opened the box to reveal a heart shaped pendant attached to a chain. Except it was only half of a heart, and it had the letters 'SML' engraved onto the back. _SML_, she thought for a moment, _Santana Maria Lopez_.

She smiled to herself and put the pendant on, looking up at the stage. As she did, Rachel and Finn walked out.

"Welcome to the New Directions' first private performance," Rachel spoke like she was addressing a packed house, "we hope you enjoy the programme we have lined up for you this fine afternoon."

Finn took over at this point. "Now we don't normally do private shows by request -"

"- At least not for free," she heard Puck shout from backstage and heard some of the others snicker.

"- but as this is a special occasion, we thought we'd make an exception. We'll only be performing one song -"

Quinn appeared from stage left holding a cue card with 'Awww' written on it, and Brittany dutifully played along while giggling.

"- but we plan to make it count." Finn finally finished as Quinn hurried backstage. She came back on moments later with the rest of the club, all dressed in the outfits they wore for Sectionals. The band was there too and it looked like even Mr Schue was joining in.

Everyone was there except the one person Brittany was most anxious to see. She tried her best to hide her disappointment, knowing she had to be here somewhere. Once everyone was in place, and she recognised the familiar piano riff, smiling at the song choice. As the intro was playing, Santana strode to centre stage. She was wearing a different outfit to everyone else, a red dress similar to the one she wore to Puck's party, and Brittany could see a pendant around her neck with half a heart attached to it. She knew without needing to look closer that 'BSF' would be engraved in the back of it.

_I hear the ticking of the clock,_

_I'm lying here the room's pitch dark_

Santana eased into the song gently, the pace and power slowly building as she belted out 'Alone'.

_Till now I always got by on my own_

_I never really cared until I met you_

_And now it chills me to the bone_

_How do I get you alone?_

Brittany didn't care that the song didn't really match Santana's soulful voice (Rachel's comment), or that she needed backup on the chorus. All that mattered was that Santana was up on that stage singing this song for her and only her, in front of their closest friends, and she didn't seem to give a damn what anyone thought.

As it reached the final chorus, by now the entire club joining in on the harmonies, Santana made her way down the steps off the stage, picking up a bouquet of roses hidden there and making her way over to the blonde, who was in tears by this point.

Holding the flowers loosely in her hand, Santana belted out the last few notes while using her free hand to take one of Brittany's. When the song ended the room was silent except for Brittany's sniffles.

"So, I have a confession to make," Santana said almost shyly.

"Oh yeah?" Brittany responded, trying to hold back any more tears.

"I kinda like you a lot," Santana smiled, and they both giggled a lot.

"Well I kinda like you a lot too," Brittany said right back. She looked up to see the rest of the club leaning forwards in anticipation, Quinn trying to prevent Rachel from falling off in her eagerness to hear more.

"Uh…will you be my girlfriend?" Santana shot out in a rush, gasping for breath after.

The blonde laughed again through the tears, and the Latina handed her the bunch of flowers, pointing at the card as she wheezed.

Brittany looked at the card and saw just one word written on it,

_*Please?*_

Once Santana fully regained her breath, Brittany removed it again by kissing her passionately on the lips, which the Latina returned eagerly. There was no finesse and very little gentleness to the kiss. It was after all, at least a month in coming. Mr Schue mumbled something about his work here being done and hurried out leaving the rest of the club to either leer, gasp 'Aw's, or both.

Eventually they both resurfaced and linked their hands together, not once taking their eyes off each other. "So I take it that's a yes?" Santana asked.

"Of course it's a yes," Brittany laughed, "you're my San, everyone knows that."

"Damn right," she said, kissing her girlfriend again, while Quinn, Rachel and Finn hustled everybody out.


End file.
